Meet Milton

I had a great time hanging out with my 3 year old neighbor yesterday afternoon- Milton. He lives on the other side of the field from my house. When I first got here I thought he was annoying, and even evil because one day he killed 2 baby chicks. But he’s not evil, he probably just didn’t know what he was doing. Milton is the youngest of 5 kids- living with mom. His dad took off for the U.S. and married another lady and started a new family forgetting about his wife and 5 kids here in El Sal. It’s a sad story- but unfortunately not an uncommon one.

Milton’s mom spends all day cleaning and doing chores for other people to earn a few dollars that is her only family’s income, because the deadbeat dad sure isn’t sending money to support them. I don’t know if he owns more than one shirt, because he has either been walking around without a shirt, or wearing the same filthy one since I met him. Milton’s siblings are always out of the house playing with friends in the neighborhood- and so he really has no one looking after him, playing him, or paying him any attention. Most of the attention he gets is negative- people just telling him Dont do this and Dont do that. Chastising him. But still he has a happy disposition and an innocence that is adorable.

I decided to give him my afternoon and offer him some real playtime. I busted out my crayons and paper... he had never seen crayons before I think. He didnt know how to color. It was great fun teaching him how to make lines on the paper... With each crayon he drew a line in then bursted into laughter and smiles and applause. Loved it! I traced his hands and he just couldnt get enough- so the coloring party went on for about to hours. Then I told him I was tired and I was going to go rest. I felt sorry for him, doing that because I knew he really had nothing to do but wander around alone if I didnt stay with him. My host mom was home but she was busy working on the house. But I can’t be his mom. I went to my house to rest. I was in my hammock talking on the phone with people from home for about an hour when I could see the shadow of two little feet at my door. He didn’t knock. Didn’t say anything- just stood there waiting. I couldn’t just ignore him- when I opened the door he melted my heart with his sweet little smile. “Pase” I told him...he came running in like a little penguin- I hung a beach ball on a string from the beam of my ceiling and let him play with it like tether ball. Again- a blast for him.



So yea, he’s cool. We bonded. Now he follows me around everywhere and tries to help me with everything I do. He’s a good little man. Love him.

His artwork:

Tomorrow begins week #2! Bring it!