April 7, 2012
She is seven,
almost eight, and she can read. Not bad considering what I’ve seen in some of
the schools here. But this pueblo has
better schools than most. She lives in the house across the street from where I’m
staying, a tin shack, pitiful really. I’ve been inside. There are three tiny
rooms. I’m not sure how many people live
there, 8 to 12, three generations. They do the cooking outside on some rocks.
The Peace Corps
wanted me to catch a couple of kids from the street and test their reading
levels. So that is what I’m doing here. And, I notice she smells. I think how terrible that is and I judge her
mother.
Her mother says “good
bye” to me every day. She really means hello but good bye is the only English she
knows.
Later I see mom
walking down the street carrying two five gallon buckets of water. And , later
I see her again, and then again. I realize then that there is no water in the
house and every drop has to be carried home from god knows where, for all those
people, to cook, to clean, wash clothes, and flush the toilet. Daily baths are
an extravagance. It is Semana Santa (Easter Week) and all of the relatives will
be stopping by later and mom is cooking on the rocks. The kid will have her
bath, mom is just too busy right now and probably needs to walk back to the
water with the buckets again.
She sees me watching from across the street. She waves. “Good
bye” she says.
Happy Easter to you all~
ReplyDeleteIt must be very difficult watching scenes like this unfold and yet...you would not be able to do so much to help one family and then not all of the others. Thus, you have to accept how things are for them, hard as it is... help when and where you can and then keep them, this existence in your memory bank, becoming even more thankful for your personal blessings than you already were before you met them. And then, you say hello and good-bye once again~
Wow, and we waste so much water and take it so for granted back in the good ole USA!
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