Fran's Summer

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!

Our friend Sharon at a restaurant in Huayapan.

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 1^st 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.

Completion of her first year!

Fran at Hierve de Agua yesterday with a friend

Last Friday Fran finished her first year at school!  As you may know (if you are a Facebook friend) the year was complicated by problems the whole class experienced with not one, but two professors, which lowered everyone's GPA.  One professor simply stopped showing up less than half way into the class.  They made the students make up the hours, but everyone was given the grade that they had at the time he disappeared ... no exams.  The other professor, well, it's an extreme version of a common story.  He was ready to retire and simply didn't care -- never explained anything.  So everyone in the class flunked his final exam.  When he gave it again, only half passed.  The highest grade was 80, Fran and her study mates got 78/79.  This professor (just for a little comic relief) also had some serious gastro-intestinal problems which caused him to release great amounts of gas into the classroom, which the students did their best to ignore.

Nevertheless, it was a good year, because lessons are not just learned in the classroom.  Fran learned a few important ones, and will be making adjustments this next year.

She has a little more than a month off.  We thought long and hard about whether she should look for employment during this short period, but decided that it was more important for her to triple up on English lessons.  So she is studying a couple of hours with me every day, and an hour in the gringo library with Jae.  She is also going to apply to be an intercambio at the ICO (Instituto Cultural Oaxaca) an hour per day, and has put up announcements that she is available as an intercambio for the Northamericanos who are beginning to arrive for Guelaguetza and beyond.  Her enthusiasm is strong, so I think she will make good progress in this short period of time.  She seems to be overcoming her shyness about speaking her 3rd language (Spanish, Cuicateco, English).

At some point in the next couple of years she will have to take an official course in English and pass a test in order to get her degree, but it is great that she is building up her skills to make that process more worthwhile.  If we can get it together (at that point) to pay a little extra and let her take a quality course, I think it would be "vale la pena" -- well worth it.  English classes in Oaxaca tend to be pretty bad, and there are only a few good places.

Fran and I are enjoying having more time together, and it is so good to see her around more.  She helps me a lot, and we have been talking more about life and its demands.  I do look forward to the breakthrough moment when she actually starts communicating with me spontaneously in English.  Meanwhile, I continue babbling my mediocre but adequate Spanish at her, and she seems to understand!

We both thank you for your continuing support and hold you close to our hearts.  She keeps blooming and learning!  Thanks to you!

Fran's needs for the next 6 months

Fran and her father on a long hike to a neighboring village (5 miles away) in Cuicatlan

Fran and her niece and nephew in front of her family home in Cuicatlan

Fran will follow that trail 5 miles to a neighboring village, returning after dark.  She has often walked long distances at night, alone or with her family, by the light of the moon.

Hello friends,
As many of you know I am providing housing and coordinating efforts to send Fran, an indigenous young woman from the region of Cuicatlan, to 4 years of rigorous college education to get her degree in Computer Engineering. Fran is so many things -- brilliant, focused, a symbol of what is possible for indigenous women from impoverished villages in Mexico, and soon to me a major factor in improving the lives of her family.

Today we sat down to review her budget as we do every 6 months. While I was visiting the States. she ran out of money for food, which alarmed me. It turns out she does need a bit more of a monthly stipend to stretch to the end of the month, and this is an appeal for that extra food money. She needs an extra $25 per month to cover that.

If you can commit to a monthly contribution for the duration of a year or more (4 years would be ideal!) that would be great. It can be $5, $10, $20 or $25 per month. You can make a donation by clicking the link below.

And that's not all. Fran needs one-time donations for the following during the next 6 months:

$1,000 pesos/$78.00 dollars for clothes
$700 pesos/$55.00 dollars as of June 1 for a linear calculus class over the summer
$1,800 pesos/$140.00 dollars tuition on August 1 for September semester
$500 pesos/$39.00 dollars for materials

Please, please give what you can, and perhaps approach a friend or member of your church to help a little too.  We don't need much, but every penny is important.  You can donate easily by going to this site set up for Fran -- THANK YOU!

http://franciscaeducationfund.weebly.com/donate.html

Fran's Easter Vacation, Part I

Here is a rare treat, LOTS of photos!  Fran went on several long hikes while she was visiting her family and friends in Cuicatlan.  Last Thursday, May 17, she and a group of 5 from her village decided to take a long, circular hike to a waterfall.  On the way they met another 10 people from her village who by amazing coincidence were taking the same hike, so they all went on together.  After they reached the waterfall, they walked home a different way, passing through gorgeous open country near where her parents were born.  They left at 6 a.m. and got back at 8 p.m., and Fran said that the route was not easy or flat.  Enjoy the photos! (They are a little out of order...the last 11)

A pause for some snacks w/Fran's little brother

Fran and her father on a dark section of trail

Part of the larger group taking a rest stop in a clearing

Fran in a carrizo clearing must have been taken by her little bro

The hot season is upon us!

April and May are the hot, dry months in Oaxaca.  I can't overstate this!  HOT!  DRY!  The sun feels as though it is burning through your skin after only a minute of exposure.  I have discovered that people here value the shady side of the street so much, that there is a kind of unofficial hierarchy (based on sheer pugnacity) about who will cling to the inside lane of shade nearest a building, and who will be forced to walk around them into the sun.  I have an advantage because I am tall and old, but not much.  Sometimes I pretend I am not paying attention and barrel straight ahead, threatening to mow everyone down who dares block my way.  That always works!

Fran continues her steady march towards excellence and her degree, carefully organizing her life to accomodate study -- the most time consuming activity -- food purchase and cooking, washing all her clothes and bedding once a week, and helping me keep the house clean.  We used to have a young woman to help with the housecleaning, but our budget no longer allows that, so Fran and I clean the house from top to bottom every Thursday.  That was today!

Without going into any details, we recently passed through a disappointing (shocking, unless you are used to it) set of circumstances involving a bit of intimidation to get students to get out and rally for a certain political party here in Mexico.  Those who live here can fill in the blanks.  Life goes on.

Fran is consolidating a small group of friends, and no doubt will continue to find more along the way.  Her studies come first, and she is too earnest and sincere to be a social butterfly so this process will be slower and more meaningful than most.

I am still looking forward to her learning English, since we are still basically depending on my Spanish skills which are approximately 4th grade level.  It IS interesting to note that though Fran has heard Spanish most of her life, she says she has been speaking it only about 3 years.  Her first language as you will recall, is Cuicateco!

So, we can communicate about most basic things in Spanish, but all the subtleties are lost.  If both of us put a significant effort into raising our abilities in each other's language, we might someday be able to share on a whole new level sometime before I pass on to the Happy Hunting Ground!

This Summer, we are thinking about sending her to full-time English classes while she works part time.  It's only a 2 month break, but her young mind will be able to wrap itself around my language much more easily that I can hers!

Please consider: A gift for Fran's family

This is just a suggestion for someone out there who would like to do something for Fran's family.  They live in a very remote village and use a bucket of freezing water for bathing.  I thought they would enjoy having a couple of these to hang in a tree, and it might even improve their health in the cold weather. 

You can see it here. 

I have heard that this is the best brand, and that having two 3-gallon sizes would be better than one 5-gallon.  These are small people, and lifting the 5-gallon to hang it in the tree might prove impossible.  They live in the mountains where there is lots of sun, so I think it would function excellently for them.  Their source of water comes from the mountains higher up, and is delivered through a pipe that the whole village uses.

If you would like to send one along, just let me know and I will make sure it gets to them.  You can email me at lcassady@gmail.com.

Well into the second semester!

I know Fran lives with me, but I rarely see her!  She has been just as tenacious and dedicated this semester as last, and is confronting a variety of different situations that demand her attention.

One of them is a difficult teacher, which has forced her to find outside support -- never a bad thing.  She had already turned the situation around as much as was humanly possible by visiting the teacher in his office several times to get him to actually teach her.  In the classroom he simply puts difficult problems on the board and sits diffidently at his desk while students try to solve them.  He's an older man, with health problems, so not much can be done.  Fran's job is to pass the class, and she seems to have created a way to do that.

Her classes this semester include a Java programming class, business accounting, research, and integral calculus.

As summer approaches she is thinking of attending classes over the summer to keep her chops, and also to shorten the total time of her matriculation.  Things do not get easier in this school, they get more difficult, and suck up more and more time.  Last semester she attended classes 4 days a week, this semester it is 5.  We have heard that they throw in weekend activities and projects in later years.

At Quaker meeting last week I had a fascinating discussion with an attender about the intricate caste system in Mexico, created by the Spanish friars, that included 35 or more castes.  To drive the point home, they commissioned a series of paintings of family groups, showing people what to look for as they made sure to put everyone around them in their proper place -- the clothing, the color, the things of daily life.  Today a main word of this kind of thinking is "muchacha" -- an indigenous girl who is basically brought in from the village to work as a slave for Mexicans who have enough money to pay (which isn't much).  That is what Fran could have been, if she had not had the strength of will to find her way out of that oppressive system.

I found a few of the caste identification paintings and include them below.