Just before I flew back to the States with my granddaughter for a visit, Fran arrived at my door one morning in tears. Lady Fate was starting to pull Fran towards her destiny. She had just been fired from her job at the Posada with only 2 days notice. This meant that aside from being jobless, she was also homeless.
When indigenous girls come down to the big city from their distant pueblos they have no family to rely on, and they must find work that also offers them a place to live, usually a small room with no windows and a mattress on the floor. Living with their employers makes them totally dependent and vulnerable. Often their employer wants to reduce their pay because they are providing a "room", spaces which are often filthy or unfinished, lacking electricity, furniture, and even access to water for washing their clothes.
Because I was leaving the next day, and because I felt I could not offer Fran a place to stay with my roommate who had already made plans for the apartment during my 10-day absence, the best I could offer Fran was that she could stay with me after I returned. But that didn't solve her problem. She would be turned out onto the street in two days.
What Fran did after I left was go to the local market and look desperately for employment that would include a place to live. She found a job in the house of a woman who owned a bakery in the market. The woman had a dirty, flea-ridden room with a mattress on the floor. Fran started her new job, which required working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.
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