South Korean orphan Milton dreamed of making it to America, the land of his father. One day he seized his chance.
In the alleys of the red-light district below their tiny apartment, homeless boys begged, picked pockets, and fought with other gangs. The American soldiers called them "slickyboys" - slang for little thieves. And when six-year-old Milton shared a packet of Oreos with the boys - given to him by his mum's American boyfriend - he became a slickyboy too. Milton finally felt like he belonged.
One night Milton's mum didn't return from work as expected - the club had been raided by the police and she and all the other women who worked there were sent to jail for two weeks. "I would almost laugh it off," he says. "'Yeah, I may be these racial slurs that you're talking about - but you're the orphan. I have a mother, she says she's going to be back in two weeks.' And she was always back in two weeks."
He didn't get far. He was still small and the compound fences were high, and a search party found him, hours later, sound asleep in a children's playground. Now in his 50s - he's not sure of his exact age - Milton works as a photographer in New York. He's always remained curious about his biological family, and in recent years began to look for connections via DNA websites. In April 2019, he got a hit. It was a family member on his mother's side, who wanted to speak to him immediately."This is Milton-ah ," he said, using the name his birth mother had often called him.
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