small VICTORY

We have a lady that helps out around our house two days a week. She cleans and washes clothes for us. Having a 'trabajadora' is pretty common here. In fact, many families have live-in maids and/or nannies. Since it is so dusty here and the right environment for lots of insects, it is necessary that you clean pretty frequently or things can get pretty nasty. (We made brownies the other night at our friend's very clean house and within minutes of serving them, tiny ants were dragging crumbs off the counter back to their hidden homes! Unbelievable!) Anyway, we didn't have anyone working in our apartment last year, but this year were thought it might be a good idea. We happened to come across a woman that cleaned for one of our friends that was actually in search of work. We connected with her, then hired her to come once during the week and once on the weekend. Maria is a single mom with three boys and cleaning is her sole income and we keep ourselves so busy that household chores sometimes fall by the wayside - so we are very happy to be helping out someone in need, and in return we get a tidy apartment! Really a win-win situation! We have gotten to know her over the year and have even gotten to meet her boys. We have gotten pretty close with the middle child, Abdul. He comes over to the house sometimes on Saturdays to hang out with us while his mom cleans. Greg teaches him English and I like to cook with him. Well, public school started a couple weeks ago (their school year goes from February to November) and Abdul mentioned that he wanted to walk with us in the mornings since we have neighboring schools. It was fine by us, so he comes to our place between 6:15am and 6:30am every day - let me just mention too, that he is one punctual Honduran! Anyway, so we have enjoyed his company bright and early each morning. So yesterday we didn't have time to eat breakfast at the house, so we took yogurt cups and plastic spoons to eat during the walk. Well, I finished mine and held it until I could find a place to properly dispose of it (trust me, trash cans are extremely few and far between to find here - no wonder there is such a litter problem!) We walked past a person sweeping up garbage on the steet and putting it into a wheel barrel, so I tossed my trash in too. Abdul definitely saw me do it, and almost simultaneously chucked his empty yogurt cup down a side street alongside some other litter. I was appalled! I kindly scolded him and told him to put his trash in the garbage can in the future. Fast forward 24 hours... This morning, Abdul was munching on a pack of oreos as we walked to school. (Yeah, I know, breakfast of champions!) I was watching him like a hawk, waiting to see what he was going to do with his empty wrapper. Well, to my extreme delight, he held the wrapper until we reached the "trash wheel barrel" and placed it right inside. I gave him lots of verbal praise for his action and seriously wanted to jump up and down I was so pumped! Who knows where his trash will go tomorrow, but today, I am celebrating!