Instead of playing, enjoying hot meals with my family, sleeping and going to school, the best I could hope for was that car owners would let me clean their windshields and give me a small amount of money, or maybe even a generous tip as payment so I could buy some food for my mother and sister.
I remember seeing someone the same age as me in a car next to his parents, I always wished I could swap places with him. My childhood was very different from his. I always hoped to join the children who were happily playing soccer on the field across the street, but if I didn’t earn any money, I could not. My mother and sister’s sad faces were always there to remind me of our terrible life and seeing them made me feel too guilty to play with my friends.
One day a car stopped in front of me and a lady got out of it with a heavy package in her hand. She came over to me. At first I was afraid, but she started talking to me with a kind smile and said that the package was for me and my family. It was a parcel full of detergents, masks, disposable gloves, alcohol – and food! The lady told me that she had brought us a gift from some donors. She said we should be more careful in these days of Coronavirus, and to take care of ourselves and our families. I was on cloud nine and absolutely thrilled. The package was so heavy that I couldn’t carry it, so we went together to our house and handed it to my mother. Suddenly, I felt really happy, like those other children I wanted to trade places with. I quickly put on my old sneakers and ran to the soccer field to play.
