floor is muddy and there is only one mattress, which I picked three years ago from the outsides of our town. It is mouldy and home to thousands of maggots and other bugs. Mother sleeps on it. She is very ill and very rarely gets out of bed. The roof of the shanty house is heavily rusted, and has many holes. We have tried to cover the holes with plastic bags and scotch tape, but when it rains water always gets into the hut.
I have to walk a lot to get to my work. My overseer is very strict with time, and if I get late one time, I shall forget my work. He is very cruel. He makes us work a lot and for long periods of time. My job is to transport water from the river to his farm to water his crops. This job is very tiring, but it’s the only way Mother will get better. My overseer gives me some medications in return. I also earn a few dollars a week by picking up wheel rims and bumpers along the highway and selling them to recycling centres. The cans, bottles, and other more commonly recycled items are quickly scavenged, but no one thinks to take wheel rims and bumpers, which are actually very common along this highway because of the poor quality of the road. Often a rich person on his way from the capital to his resort home will hit a rock and lose his rims along the road but will not stop because he is too scared to get out of his car here.
Life in the shanty town is dangerous but not so bad. Nobody usually bothers my family or me because they know we are too poor to have anything. We have very tough times in here and many times I see myself forced to steel. I don’t like this. Every time I steel something I feel cold and empty but we have to survive somehow.
In the shantytown I live in, there is this girl, Camila. She is beautiful. Her golden hair matches perfectly with her navy blue eyes. She is the one and only friend I have. The problem is that she comes from a higher society class. I met her while I was with my friend Tulu fixing some rich man car rims. Many times she escapes and comes over to see me.
Yesterday, after working I went looking for rims. It was hot, unbearable hot. While I was walking I saw Tulu in the distance. I wasn’t willing to come across him. He is upset with me because he thinks that he saw Camila first and that he should have her for himself. Tulu was crying. When I saw him I forgot everything I had against him and approached.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
I said with a very false tone.
“Its Nina, she’s very sick and nearly dying and there’s nothing I can do about it”
When I heard this I burst out crying, not being able to control myself because He reminded me of the situation Mother was in. We hugged ourselves, we hugged so hard we felt each others bones. I will never forget that moment.
All in all it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. My fears for the future are increasing as days pass. Now the most important thing is that Mother doesn’t die.
