“Smile,” I said to this little guy. I wanted to capture his picture.

I know he was trying, I could feel it.

.

His friends all seemed to know what to do, because these little Compassion children are experts in the smile department.

Ok…maybe this little guy could have used some help, but isn’t he darling?

I admit, I pride myself on finding a smile.

However, this little guy was giving me a challenge.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have a smile. Oh no…quite the contrary.  He just didn’t know how to find his smile. It had been buried deep down inside, possibly lost behind many other expressions.  So my job in his lunch hour was to free it, rescue it, and bring it to the surface.  It must come out.

I wasn’t going to give up, so I started acting like a monkey. 

“Sonrisa…por favor!”

And in a moment of truth, when weird white woman meets cute Ecuadorian child, I see it.  It’s coming.

It’s coming…

It’s coming…

And yes!

Success!

Freeing a smile is a great accomplishment! It’s all in a days work.