I was in the headmasters study being whacked again. There was nothing unusual about that, except for the man, he was from the West, who sat watching and listening to me high pitched cries each time the rattan striped by bare bottom.
Afterwards I was told to go. I glanced at the man and he smiled back at me. I did not understand why until later that day when the headmaster told me that I was going to be adopted.
I had been an orphan since my grandmother died, my parents had been killed in the war. I was eleven at the time. I come from south east asia and like all the war orphans I was taken to the orphanage in the nearby city. Life is hard, there is never enough to eat. For bad behavoiour or not following instructions we boys are sent to the headmaster for our beatings.
I had heard that some boys were taken from the home by men from the West and now it was my turn. The man had donated a large sum for the building fund, I was told, and I had to be good and do everything the man told me. Well I was used to doig what I was told or suffering a very painful bottom. We would stay in the country while papers were prepared and then I would be going to this man's country to live.
I was delighted to be leaving that place.
I lived in the