Davíd

I spent Wednesday morning at the Casa Hogar like I do most mornings. I'm always being asked to help with one homework assignment or another. That morning, Davíd asked me to help him with his presentation that he was going to be giving that afternoon at school. This is the kid who at 13 had his first week of school ever last week. So I said of course. All morning he repeated his mini-speech over and over again to memorize it. It was slow going with lots of mistakes, but eventually he pretty much had it. I still have it memorized just from listening to him say it so many times. I pretended to be the other students in the class and let him present to me about the skeletal system while using the visual aid he made. I was getting pretty pumped for him because he had it down. Then as he was getting changed into his school uniform, he asked if he could borrow my camera so he could have his teacher take a picture of him doing the presentation. Giving my camera to a 13 year old and having him bring it to school sounds like a bad idea no matter what country you're in. He was so genuinely excited about finally going to school, finally learning something rather than living on the streets, and for the first time ever giving a presentation that he now felt confident in due to our work all morning, that I could not say no. I told him to be careful, and not to let other kids use it. All smiles, he agreed and said of course.

I got the camera back today. Which in itself is a blessing. The battery was dead, so I plugged it into my computer when I got home before lunch. The 67 pictures that were taken the two days that he had my camera are easily some of my favorite pictures from my time here. They're taken from Davíd's perspective rather than mine. If I was in his school taking pictures it would just be awkward and weird, or just the typical pictures of a group of hispanic kids gathered around the American. Instead, the pictures show him goofing off with friends, kids not being ready for a picture, a creeper shot of a cute girl that I suspect he likes, 13 year olds showing off their muscles. Here are some of them:

I'm so proud.