Renato looks up at me with eyes like, ‘So you gonna buy my t-shirt or what?’ I’m looking at him and my heart is breaking. I’m seeing the faces of Mansur, Geirler, Beken. He asks me, “Do you have a Mom and a Dad?” My heart breaks more. ”You can buy this for your Dad”.
Gene stands by watching. I wonder what he is thinking. Is he thinking, ‘Crazy gringa’? Or is he seeing my heart? I look down at them and tell them they are beautiful. Hermosos. I fumble for money. He slips 10 soles in my hand when the boys are not looking. I buy everything they are trying to sell me. Two necklaces, a bracelet and a t-shirt. Gene says, “You just got robbed.” I smile and say, “When someone robs you it’s against your will. That was not against my will.”
As Gene and I continue our walk around Iquitos, I tell him how many street kids I have seen, but not seen. He doesn’t understand what I mean. I tell him I see them with my eyes, but not with my heart. He says that’s the problem. People don’t see them. Now I do.
(This picture is of some of the boys at the Scripture Union Center in Iquitos. They usually go there before they come to Puerto Alegria. Most of them are “drop-ins”, which means they just come during the The center is closed now because of lack of funding. Where are they now?)
