Alluman

So, remember the little guy that wanted his bucket and Jon pushed him out the door on our first day here? Well, since then he has become a much bigger part of our life.

His name is Alluman and he lives upstairs in the roof apartment/shack/weird living area of our building with his mom who is a bua (housecleaner). His dad lives back in his village. He says he is 8 years old, but he clearly isn't. We think probably around five or six.

It all started because he was out cleaning the door and Sam gave him some Changi airport candy and was chatting with him. Now, about three times a day (or more...) he stops by to chat and tries to come up with some project he can do to earn some goodies. When he sweeps we give him a few taka (it is pennies in conversion), and it is always accompanied by treats- candy, mango bars, a glass of milk, cookies... he really wants the treats more than the taka.

Of late, he has become so comfortable that he will just have us open the fridge up and he'll look around to see what he wants. Jon really made his day last night with some Oreos. We had a few days where we had to get the ground rules laid down a little - as in: you can't come by ten times a day, and you can't ring the doorbell over and over, and you can't come at night, and if we are busy you can't come in and just start grabbing cleaining stuff...but I think we've got it worked out mostly. He knows that he can't always get a treat, and we don't always have taka to give him, but he likes coming by and we don't mind when it is within reason.

He particularly likes to have his picture taken and to take pictures. He has all sorts of staged photos planned in his mind, and below is sampling. In some ways, the whole thing is just so sad- he's just such a little guy and his life is already so hard- no school, working as a cleaner, dad not around, etc. - but we know this is the reality of the world. We don't always have to look at poverty in the US (in fact our society is organized to hide it from sight) so we are't used to dealing with it on a personal level. His mom seems to take good care of him too-he is sweet, happy guy who seems healthy.He is always in clean jammies at night and has his hair combed after his bath (we know because he stops by to say goodnight and get a little bedstime treat). I think she deserves a great deal of credit, and he has it a lot better than a lot of kids we see on a daily basis begging in the street.

In the smallest way though, we can help make Alluman's days a little more fun (and a little more filled with treats). He's a sweet kid that reminds us that kids are just kids, no matter what the circumstances, and he makes the best of his situation, so we do too.

In this first picture, I don't know why they look so sad. Aluman was the one who wanted the picture of him and Atticus with the flower and Atticus was totally on board- then the camera comes up and boom- both look like the world is ending. I don't understand these kids! The other photo is also the brainchild of Alluman- he's going for the gangsta pose I guess (that's the first taka he earned for sweeping our floor).