The last week of October

Service-Learning big wigs from the U of M visited this week and I got to take two of the four around in my community with me and we ate lunch at one of the entrepreneur’s houses (conveniently she is in the cake making business and needless to say they liked the experience). I also got the chance later in the week to help one of the artisans make a piece of art from fibra de plátano, which is dried plantain-palm tree leaves/bark dried, flattened, cut and scrapped together to make beautiful forms of art.

After this Esperanza, the artist I was working with, invited me to a community meeting she was having. I showed up with her… and a dozen other middle age and older women. That wasn’t in itself the problem. The problem was it was a meeting on breast cancer and how to give self checks as a preventative medical technique. Let’s just say it was a little awkward I kinda just sat there with nothing to contribute but two eyes looking at the ground. In hindsight it was a pretty funny predicament to be in, but at the time I wanted nothing better but to get out of there.

We had our midterm paper due for our capstone class on Wednesday and by the end of the week we realized how much work we have to do in the upcoming half of the semester. With the investigation teacher hospitalized for Dengue Fever, and our director leaving the country for conferences in a week it was imperative that we get on top of things again so that we are ready for the capstone projects we are creating and the presentations to the community of the results and recommendations of our investigations. We spent all day Thursday in Elaine’s office and didn’t even go home for lunch.

On a more serious note, other problems have arisen recently. Firstly, one of the women Emma works for in her health organization was killed in a car crash two weeks ago. Her community and organization are still dealing with the impact of that tragedy. Secondly, the doña, or woman who watches the kids and cleans the house of Elaine and Marcos, her husband was shot and killed by a policeman last Sunday night after the doña was at Portia´s birthday party. The son of the husband from a previous marriage had gotten in a fight with the doña´s nephew months ago. The feud resurfaced on Sunday night when one slashed the other´s hand almost off with a machete. Amongst plans of retaliation from the other side, the husband of the doña came out and said, “What’s going on with my son?” and the police shot him.

This resulted in a riot from the neighborhood at the injustice of it all and there were tires burning in the street and dumptrucks of sand piled in the road to close off the neighborhood as the neighbors brought the coffin into the middle of the street in protest. The doña was never even able to see the body before the burial. Attending the burial was too dangerous and therefore didn’t even see the burial. The news came as a shock and everything is still settling down. We wish there was something we could do for her and her family, and we are still thinking of ways we could help.

It was a tough week and there were many lessons to be learned.