Quiero ser tu hijo

Romero hadn't been getting involved very much at La Policia for the past few days, he's been there for five days, so I've spent four days working with him. While all the other kids like to draw and read and stuff like that, he just wanted to mess about, nothing bad but nothing constructive either. But we'd got on well and he always seemed very pleased to see me.

Today when I arrived he told me he wanted to read with me, so as soon as I'd got the other five kids doing something I sat down with him and he read the whole bloody book with me, aloud. He reads well, not perfectly, but as good as most of these kids and was so happy with himself. He just wanted to read and read. Then he took me completely by surprise when he decided that he wanted to draw, having told me all week that he didn't like to draw and that he couldn't do it anyway. In fact it turns out that he's very good at drawing and colouring.

I was so pleased for him, and that he was joining in. He did tend to snatch the pencils he wanted from the rest of them, but after a few words of encouragement and a request for a bit of "tranquilo" he was fine.

A few minutes later he came up to me and giving me a big hug he told me "quiero ser tu hijo" , I want to be your son. Hard to know what to say to that. I was quite taken aback and a little bit upset for him. But I guess it's as big a compliment as I could get, by way of a thank you. And he meant it too.

It's been a busy week at La Policia. There's only one girl there just now. She's a lovely 14 year old who gets beaten up by her step father and then dumped at La Policia by her mother. I've been chatting to her quite a bit and encouraging her to make a report to the police and get him charged but her mother discourages her. I hope she can go to live with her real father which is what she wants.

We were chatting about her education and bits like that. She goes to school in the morning and then to an academia in the afternoons. You can imagine my surprise when it turns out the she is studying karate. So I told her about my tai chi classes and it turns out that she does tai chi too at her academy. She hopes to have her own school one day and teach karate and tai chi. Lets hope she gets all her desires come true. She deserves it and more. I didn't like to ask her if she fought back against her step father with some karate kicks. Lets hope so, or maybe not. But you do just wish that some one would. Maybe Rick could come to sort him out. Rick is my tai chi professor. btw.

Must go hunger calls. Will post more soon.