The Luckiest Kid in the World

In many ways, Izaquel is very unlucky. He was born into an extremely poor family in one of the poorest countries on earth. He has very little access to good education and virtually no access to healthcare. His entire family lives on the $4 a week that we pay him for working for us -- and that's a pretty good salary around these parts.

However, in some ways, Izaquel is not as unfortunate as all that. He's got smarts, and knows how to use them. He gets good grades and is well on his way to becoming the first person in his family to finish tenth grade -- maybe even twelfth. Plus, Izaquel has a steady job at our house, where we treat him nicely and feed him two to three times a day.

We've basically adopted Izaquel as our son. The original deal was for him to come three times a week and sweep. Now, he comes every morning (including weekends) at seven -- he sweeps, he mops, he washes dishes... we tell him he doesn't need to do all this stuff but he does it anyway. We eat lunch together, and all get changed for school (he keeps a change of clothes here.) One or two times a week, when he has to be at school early the next day, Izaquel sleeps over. He spreads out the esteira (straw mat) and curls up in our spare sleeping bag.

We like Izaquel because he's a smart cookie. He's driven. He's nice to our dog, an unusual trait for a Mozambican. He goofs around with us. He labels everything in our house -- from "Wash Hands Here" to an "OPEN" sign for when we're home.

We love Izaquel, and therefore, we spoil him a little bit.

Just a little bit.