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| Fran usually has no time to cook for anyone but herself, but this was a rare treat for dinner one night last week: Chili rellenos! |
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| Our friend Sharon at a restaurant in Huayapan. |
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| Fran and her younger brother, P |
Fran is about halfway through her summer break, and already
there is so much she has learned and accomplished – while managing to relax a
little from her rigorous academic schedule.
She has been working pretty regularly in the evenings as a dental
assistant for the dentist who put in a full set of braces for her. It is a way of paying him, and she is
learning a lot. She was working for him
when I had some cavities filled about a month ago, and it was exciting to see
her in her uniform and responding to his requests very skillfully and
quickly. She has become indispensible to
him and she is enjoying the experience very much. When she comes home about 10 p.m. she is very
animated and happy.
She focusing on learning English this summer, including a
free class at the Oaxaca Lending Library, a class with me, and serving as an
intercambio for an American student at the ICO – Instituto Cultural Oaxaca,
where I first learned Spanish in 2005.
To supplement this we have been watching movies every night in English,
some with subtitles. We are about to
start watching “Six Feet Under” and will finish the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit
series which she loves. We also watched
a hilarious British series “Miranda” and I got to listen to Fran laugh a lot!
This is a big break through for her. She is finally confident enough to start
speaking English with me, and of course she understands far more than she can
say.
She has also had some time to reflect about how she can make
improvements in her study arrangements.
Last semester she got a little off course, but we had a long
conversation about it and she is back on track.
The problem was only with some friends who were pushing her to spend
time with them, more time than she should have spent. Not much, but enough so that she felt she
didn’t perform at her absolute best like she did the first semester, when she
came in 1st in her class!!
She is visiting with her brother, Philomen today and this
evening. She has been such a great help
to me lately that I gave her some money to take him out to dinner at a nice
restaurant downtown. Philomen is 17 and
is attending his last year of high school in a village that is a several-hour
walk from his parents. There is no
school in his own village, where most of the people have no more than a second
grade education. There are boys his age
that are already married and have two children, have already turned into
alcoholics.
Fran and Philomen are unique in their village – a product of
kind and wise parents no doubt, but they also have something special inside –
ambition, curiosity, and determination.
I am not going to ask Fran’s supporters to also support
Philomen when he is ready, but I want to plant a seed. Perhaps you know someone who would be willing
to form a small group for Philomen the way some of us formed a group for
Fran. It really isn’t that much
money: about $1800 pesos per month
($138). Though it would be more for
Philomen unless we can find him free lodging, so possibly more like $250/month.
I have been giving thought to seeking support to Philomen,
not only for him, but as a support for Fran.
She is the vanguard of her family, and their well-being and survival
weighs heavily on her. I think it would
be fantastic if she had her brother to share her new life, and to share the
responsibility they will both feel for their parents and younger brother. It gives Fran roots here and now, and an
important ally in the future. Philomen
is a serious student. Fran says he is
smarter than she is, which is hard to believe.
Imagine if we could help build such a solid foundation for
these two worthy young people and change the life of their family forever!
Peace.
