Perhaps
it was then that Estela decided that Victoria was really too Guatemalan to be
teaching her children and she apparently communicated that fact to Denis and
Jackie. Denis did his best imitation of
"macho" and announced that he should be able to listen to music while
studying because it relaxed him. While
never impolite I heard Denis speaking to Victoria as a macho Guatemalan might
speak to a Guatemalan woman. One is always
aware of the fact that the poor, dependent on the generosity of others, often
have two very different faces: one for
gringos and quite another for their own kind.
The non-gringo face is quite often not a very pretty one and it is one
that I fear that Estela's kids see all too often in their home. I was
disappointed to hear it coming from Denis.
Whatever
happened, Victoria announced that she was quitting. We talked and I think that many of her
buttons had been pushed as a result of the cultural confusion and the
assumption that her brown face meant that she wasn't up to standard. And
suddenly I found that I had reached my limit with the two adolescents.
Victoria
and I made a plan. We would talk to the
two the next day before their mother arrived for work and then we would include
Estela so there would only be one version of the conversation. I told them that
Victoria was quitting, that I was tired of pouring money down the toilet and
that, if they were not interested and willing to participate, they could just
go home and just pick coffee for $3 a day for the rest of their lives. I mean't it and they got it. When we had said
everything we had to say I sent Estela and the two tormented teens home to
decide what their future was going to look like.
I felt a
sense of relief. I had my house back and
I had stopped the cash drain into the toilet.
I had done everything possible for the two and, as I had told them, I
had run out of options and could not force them to take an interest in an
opportunity that many other Guatemalan children could only dream about. The three scurried out of the house
wondering, I am sure, what had hit them.
Estela
was very quiet the next day. I was
relishing the chance to get some other things done. Towards the end of the day I told Estela that
Victoria had reported that Jackie blamed all her recent failures and health
issues on worry about her father. Worry
about a man who didn't care enough about any of his kids to stay out of jail,
worry about a man who participated in a gang that kidnapped and raped women,
worry about a man who won't even tell his children why he is still in prison
after more than a year and a half? From the Internet I printed the front page
newspaper articles from when Alex had been arrested and suggested that Estela
take them home and have the two older children read them out loud. Time for them to do a reality check rather
than continue to believe the lies of their father who, of course, maintains
that he is innocent, that it is all a big mistake and that he will be free very
soon. I suspect that the truth is that he has been given a lengthy sentence but
won't admit that to any of those whom he has devastated.
I told
Estela that, if the two didn't come to terms with the facts about their father
that Denis would likely follow him to jail and Jackie would likely die from her
inability to eat without vomiting. And
have a nice weekend!
On Monday
Estela reported that the two had studied most of the weekend. True? Hard to tell.
I was back and forth with the educational psychologist overseeing the
homeschooling program. She asked for a
meeting. I used the power of my
checkbook and told her that Denis simply could not absorb another failure at
the current time. I had already been
told that if the kids did not pass the exams scheduled for Wednesday they would
not be able to continue. I agreed to
meet the director on Wednesday and told Estela that I was leaving at 8:30am,
that if the children had decided that if either one or both wanted to continue
their education that they should be at my house before 8:30. I had no idea whether or not they would show
up. I further told Estela that if either
wanted help I would be available Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday two smiling teens showed up at my door. Jackie reported that she had finished everything but math and she needed help with reciprocals (in Spanish no less). Astrid was there and found the appropriate Khan Academy video in Spanish and the two dealt with reciprocals. Denis was in a panic as nothing came up when he googled "nĂºmeros cuadraticos" on the Khan Spanish channel. I noticed that his favorite math teacher was online and typed in a message. We need help with "nĂºmeros cuadraticos." Within minutes I heard the Skype call from Ottawa, Canada and Denis got the help he needed.