We had the pleasure of a brief visit by Fran's parents, Cresencia and Antonio, for lunch on Sunday. This was only Cresencia's second visit ever to Oaxaca City. She basically never leaves her remote village. But on this occasion, she decided to come along with Antonio on the nickel of a corrupt politician in their region. He pays villagers $200 pesos ($11.34) to show up at the Zocalo to demonstrate on his behalf once a year. He brings them in by the vanload, stuffing in 15 people, cheek-by-jowl for the 6 hour ride in the heat. The journey isn't free, nor is their food. They return home with basically nothing to show for it except, in this case, a visit with their daughter.
It is hard for us to imagine how hard Cresencia's life is, as a woman in a traditional indigenous pueblo, where women are little more than slaves to men. Cresencia's husband, Antonio, is not the cause of her suffering. In fact the rest of the village makes fun of him for helping her so much.
The cause of her suffering is her three brothers. Now that their mother is old and sick, likely not far from death's door, Cresencia is now responsible for doing all the making of tortillas (an onerous and physically-taxing job in itself) cooking, cleaning, and errands for her brothers. Fran tells me she is anxious for her mother's health because of this burden.
At one point recently, the brothers didn't think their sister was doing enough, or doing it willingly enough, so they reported her to the town council. All men, of course. She was fined $100 Pesos and ordered by the community to step it up. If she does not, she will be fined again, or worse.
Fran's father, Antonio, was right to suggest that Fran leave the village and make a better life for herself. Her sister, now about 26, followed in her mother's footsteps and now has 4 children, a lazy and alcoholic husband, and a lifetime ahead of grueling work. But still, she thinks Fran has done wrong to leave, that she has ruined her life because she still is not married.
Cresencia speaks only Cuicateco, though she seems to understand a few Spanish words. Antonio speaks fairly good Spanish. But there were several times when Fran and her mother were conversing in their native tongue and I was entranced at how beautiful it sounded. The very name of Cuicatlan was given by the Aztecs when they passed through the region. The word refers to the musical sound of the language.
We ate French Toast (which they had never sampled), bacon, fresh squeezed orange juice and scrambled eggs. Both of them ate for three! I would have had to take a siesta after such a meal, but they were soon packing up to go back out in the 95+ degree heat and meet up with the demonstrators in the Zocalo. Then pile into the sardine can for the journey home.
Fran is gearing up for her final project presentations and exams. She hopes to pass Statistics so she doesn't have to take it this summer. She would rather take violin lessons!
Her life never stops, and she has to do it all in unbelievable heat these days. School, homework, work, housecleaning, English class, homework, it never ends.
Now that the President of Mexico has cancelled all the scholarships for Master's degrees (aimed at the poor to keep them from competing), our plan for Fran's future has received a serious blow. She has been working especially hard to keep her grade point average high so that she would qualify for the scholarship, but now that doesn't seem to matter. I don't want her to lose hope, and I don't want either of us to be discouraged.
She thinks it will cost between $7,000 pesos and $15,000 pesos per semester (about $400 - $850) for her master's degree in agronomy. So that's 4 semesters. That doesn't include board and housing, which of course is much, much less here than in the States.
I don't think it is too soon to send out an appeal, even though this emergency will not occur for 2.5 or 3 years. It will still occur. At that point, she will move out of my apartment and go to the school of her choice for the Master's, hopefully Chapingo outside of Mexico City. It makes my heart beat fast just to think about it!
So if you think you might be able to chip in funds for that 2-year period coming up, when she will need roughly $2,000 per year, (only $2,000 -- imagine!) please consider putting some money away for her and letting me know what we can count on. Of course I will give exact figures as soon as we gather them.
Perhaps you can bring a friend into the circle of Fran's supporters? Let me know if I can add them to my mailing list for this blog, OK?
After Fran gets her Master's, she will be on her own. If she goes to Chapingo, she's pretty much guaranteed a job somewhere in Mexico. She will be highly qualified. If she does not go on for her masters, she could easily end up working in a coffee shop and struggling for the rest of her life. It's more or less like that in the States too now, I imagine.
I will continue to endeavor to keep up this blog more often! Both of our lives have been very busy, and recently the added stress of a nasty landlord who doesn't treat Fran very well. There is a lot of racism and classism here in Oaxaca, unfortunately. Gringos seldom see it on their short visits, but you don't have to live here long to realize what's going on. Fran escaped the fate that was waiting for her as a young indigenous woman. I want to make sure there is no possibility that anyone will ever pull her down again.
Best wishes from Oaxaca!
Lorena and Fran
