"American lady, shine your shoes, one dollar?" I heard this cry over and over again as I traveled in the Dominican Republic. If I didn't give a firm "No!", the boy would be down on his knees beginning to polish my shoes. At first I was quite aggravated with these boys, but I soon realized that they deserved my respect. Many of them attended school for half a day and hit the streets for the other half to earn money for food for his family. They appeared to have their regulars, but anyone who had on leather shoes was a definite target.
Seeing these young boys shining shoes, made me think about the young boys in the United States. How many 12-year-olds are out there earning money for their family? If they are working, the money most likely goes in their pocket to pay for things they want, such as, a new bike, a game, or a cd.
This young man is one of the boys that earns money by shining shoes. He's quite proud of the newly shined shoes when he has completed his work. Since I had no shoes that needed to be shined, I took his picture instead and gave him a dollar, which is really 100 pasos. One hundred pasos is equal to about three dollars. Not such a bad deal for him after all!
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