My mom

This is my mom, Ida Lina Semedo Da Veiga, with my baby brother, Eder. My sister Elida, who is in the background, is 15 and epileptic and can't go to school. Mom doesn't live with us because she works as a cleaner in the city, a two-hour bus ride from our village. She lives with my brother and sister in a squatter camp on the outskirts of the city.

Today is my mom's day off. That's when she comes up to the village. We are always very excited to see her.

When she goes back to town tomorrow, she wants to take me along for a check-up at the hospital. She is worried about my tummy aches because my father died of appendicitis when I was a baby.