Land of Opportunity?

Well one thing did spoil my Saturday a little. One of the little girls who lives in the teacher compound around me came over to look at my Newsweeks (all the children do because they don’t have books and they like to sit on my porch). This girl and her sister live and work for one of the teachers because their mom ‘isn’t around’ and apparently single parent homes can only apply if it’s a mom. She has started to come over more lately, which I don't mind, she is very polite and I like her a lot because she is smart and not completely submissive like most women in Uganda. So while she was flipping through the magazine, looking at the pictures, she asked me out of the blue if I'm allowed to take children back with me to America. Now, when adults, especially men, ask me about taking them to America I can laugh and say no and that's it. But when this little, sweet girl asks me to take her with me it's really tough. I have to explain that I don't have any visa's or money to take them back and that right now I'm not able to take care of children. It's a bit heartbreaking. However, it's not as bad as another volunteer's experience. Apparently, two orphan siblings, who are less than 10 years old, skipped school and walked miles in the Ugandan heat to this PCV's house to ask if they could live with her. She had no choice but to say no and send them back walking miles to school. After the orphans left she cried all day and felt like the worst person on the planet. So I guess the request to be taken to America wasn't that bad.