Bougainvillea Lane ... Poco a Poco

Curious that there is never a dull day here in Guatemala.  Perhaps, that is the "hook".  It might have to do with the small size of the community or the fact that those without resources or education circle around the gringos with interesting and innovative tales of woe.  Or that all of the ex-pats who choose to live here have the same loose screw.

I now officially have six children on the dole.  While Marielos does not miss a beat in terms of her children's schooling I noticed that she was walking a mile or so round-trip across town twice a day to the pre-school to deliver and fetch Cris and Mishelle.  That meant that she didn't have the $20 per month for the "busito" which delivered them back to the market at the end of the day.  I asked her about Diego (9) and she started crying.  It turns out that she has been paying for him to go to a private "colegio" (deemed better than a government school but sometimes only a profit center) since pre-school.  Education, which she never had, is obviously very important to her.  Since food and shoes come first she is four months behind and Diego is being denied passage to the fifth grade.  I gave her $100.00 so that Diego could finish the school year which ends next week (in time for children to help harvesting coffee).  Diego might well be the brightest of the bunch and he really likes school. Marielos's mother (who wouldn't let Marielos and her sisters attend school) told Marielos that she should just take him out of school. Can you imagine? His father was assassinated, his step-father is in prison (no longer in jail but prison), he is a nice, bright nine-year old who likes school. Take him out of school for lack of $25 a month?  Marielos told me that Diego asks her a lot of questions about his school work and it makes her sad that she can't help him because "I never studied." Between now and January we will be looking for the best school option for Diego who, like Denis, is now hooked on the Khan Academy math videos.

Mesmerized by Sal Khan's math

Denis is 15.  On his birthday in March I bought a birthday cake with a "15" candle on it.  The following day Estela reported that Denis was really 16.  Hmmm.  I asked her how it was possible that she had two children aged 16 who were not twins.  She was adamant and seemed surprised when I told her that if Jackie was born in November that there was no way that Denis could have been born in March of the following year.  She told me that he was early.  Not that early.  I suggested that she go home and look at Denis's birth certificate, that Denis deserved to know how old he was.  Denis is 15.  He was born in March of 1997.  His is a very difficult age without a father in prison, without having flunked out of a fancy international school, without possible learning disorders, without being a boy.

Perhaps because this small community is full of ex-pats with the same loose screw there are people willing to help Denis.  He worked with a tutor on both English and Spanish along with his younger sister, Astrid, during the summer months.  He continues daily tutoring sessions at the same school that Cris and Mishelle attend.  I quickly made the arrangement for him to walk Cris and Mishelle to the market after school saving Marielos the a mile a day.  Denis adores the two little ones and takes his responsibility very seriously.  Good for everybody.

Last week Denis and I met with an educational psychologist who is on the staff of a home schooling program.  I decided that they merited a visit because none of the materials that they sent me had a single spelling or grammatical error.  Almost unheard of in Guatemala because of the poor quality of the education. I liked the woman. Denis liked the woman. She said that she would like to see him once a week for the balance of the calendar year, that he could then start (again) the equivalent of the 8th grade in January (when the coffee has all been picked).  Walking out of that meeting Denis was almost teary eyed and he gave me a big hug and, in English, thanked me "for helping" him.

While Denis had been offered the chance to return to the international school for their "extra-curricular" program (after all he was their star soccer player) Denis told me that he did not want to go.  Done.  I understand.  His favorite teacher was his math teacher who had made a real effort to move Denis forward.  Oddly enough this man is also called Alex.  Alex and his wife (who was the second grade teacher) are Canadians and wander the world teaching.  Three years in Columbia, three years in Libya among their most recent adventures.  At the end of the school year Alex offered to help me with a math program for Denis.  We had a tentative plan to meet this past Wednesday.  On Monday morning I received an email from Alex indicating that he and his wife had both resigned from the international school the previous Friday over what sounds like a ridiculous issue with the new director.  Alex said that he was now free to help Denis.

Alex and his wife will be around until Christmas and he now comes to my house several days a week in the afternoons to spend time with Denis and tutor him in both math and life.  They go to the market and do math problems with bananas and avocados.  They walk and they talk in Spanglish. Alex's Spanish is about the same as Denis's English.  Soon I will ask Alex if he wouldn't mind working condoms into a math problem for Denis. Denis cannot believe that so many people want to help him.  I have told him "no peace until there is a high school (big deal here) graduation."  He and Alex use the Khan Academy website (check it out if you haven't www.khanacademy.org) and materials that Alex has.  The real value is that he is teaching Denis that there are people who care whether or nor he succeeds.  He is also teaching him to understand the concepts behind math and to reason and, heaven knows, he has way more patience than I have.

After all the school work I give Denis Facebook time (I set up his account and made sure that all of the privacy settings were on).  Yesterday he ran the battery out on my laptop but in order to do that he had to read, write and type.  Go Facebook!

Astrid is back at the international school along with her determination to graduate.  She was somewhat dismayed to find out that she would have to repeat the 6th grade having lost most of last year to learning English.  On the first day of school, however, after a year's time she finally found a friend, another girl who is being sponsored, whose mother is a maid and who is also struggling with English.  Not only does Astrid have a friend but she now gets to be a mentor to the kid she was a year ago.  She is smiling.  She is happy.  School is hard.  Last Friday there were no classes so she came to my house and worked on the school math website for five hours doing over 500 problems.  She is studying the solar system in science, her hardest class.  Sal Khan to the rescue with his videos on the solar system.

Jackie is in a rotten school which she originally picked, I suspect, because the only career she had ever heard of besides maid was bi-lingual secretary.  She is a diligent student who loves to read and who should be a teacher.  Her only B is in English.  She is flunking most other subjects (silly things like shorthand, typing, nothing academic) which means that she will not graduate next year (I suspect that this is a sustainability program on the part of her rotten school).  If diligent students are flunking out then there is something wrong with the school.  It is quite likely that she too will be enrolled in home schooling with Denis come January.  I have already told Estela that I will not give this school another centavo. Not exactly what I thought that retirement would be about but I suppose it should be about something.  During the coffee picking school break Jackie will be working as a volunteer at the bi-lingual Montessori  that her younger siblings attend.

The "chiquitos" (little ones) are flourishing, mixing English with Spanish.  They are both such happy kids.  I credit their mother and extended family full of doting grandparents and aunts for that. Cristopher takes one look at me and pleads for my iPhone.  Mishelle just grins showing dimples inherited from her father who isn't around to see them.

Mishelle (r) and friend getting down and dirty at school.

Speaking of their father Alex (the felon not the cherished teacher) has been transferred from the local jail to one of the nastiest prisons in the world, Pavon, on the other side of Guatemala City.  It is out of reach for any of his many families thus he likely hasn't had a visitor in the four months he has been there.  Still no trial, no sentence.  A Guatemalan friend has suggested that the reason that his case has taken so long to make its way through the shabby justice system is, perhaps, because it is a very big and involved case.  Just today he called the house pleading for food. When I asked him where he was he answered "zone 18." I gave the phone to Denis who seemed under-impressed   Once again Alex expects his case to be resolved in November (there was last November too).  He has yet another new lawyer. Of course, despite evidence and witnesses to the contrary he maintains his innocence.  Vamos a ver.

School

In spite of their father's incarceration (or perhaps because they don't have to worry anymore about what he is up to) the children seem to be thriving.  Denis and Astrid are facing the challenge of their new international school with smiles.  They are starting to understand and even speak English.  The school asked me to come in for a meeting and confirmed what I had long suspected about Denis, that he may have some learning disabilities.  One of the delights about Antigua is how easy it is to find a solution to most anything.  Two days later I met a American woman with a Masters' degree in Special Education.  She has already started to work with Denis twice a week. Denis is just a delightful boy who will be 15 by the time you read this.  He comes every weekend and washes cars in the neighbor making the staggering amount of $13.00 most weekends which gives him some pocket change and the chance to feel that he is helping his mother by contributing.  I have talked to him about saving money.  He wants to, one day, buy a moto (which I hope is far off).  He knows that he needs to pay me $10.00 for his next jug of car wash liquid.

I told Denis that I had had a meeting with some of his teachers and that they were concerned that he was getting frustrated at school.  He responded, "I can't write."  The teachers told me that Denis was doing very well socially as a result of the fact that he is the best soccer player in the school and there is a lot of competition for Denis's talents.  They also told me that Astrid is not doing well socially, doesn't yet have a friend.  The school is small and the majority of the girls in her class have formed one of those dreadful cliques.  I have suspected that Astrid engages in reverse discrimination against gringos.  I decided to talk to her to make certain that she wasn't rejecting classmates because they were "gringos."  Ironically, the day of that conversation Denis and Astrid came into the house and told me "Oscar sends his greetings."  Somehow they had gotten a ride with none other than Dr. Oscar whose two daughters attend the same school.  I took the opportunity to point out to the aspiring doctor or veterinarian, Astrid, that Oscar was not a gringo but a Guatemalan and yes, he is a doctor, drives a car and sends his kids to a good school. We had a conversation about the differences between gringos and Guatemalans and I hope that the boundaries got blurred.  Denis said that gringos were more intelligent and I jumped all over him and told him that that was not true.  I told him that what was true was that Guatemala had a horrible education system and many people did not get a decent education as a result.  I pointed out that the main difference between gringos and Guatemalans was one of opportunity and that, by attending the new school they were being given the same opportunity if not a better one than most kids in the US.

$1116 to Save a Little Girl's Life

Shortly after the holidays three-year old Michelle was taken for the second time to the National (public) Hospital with a severe case of chicken pox.  Right, no vaccination. The 27 pound child had about given up, was put into isolation and set up with an IV and feeding tube.  Every day at 2pm the entire family (minus Alex of course) would report for the visiting hour and, though seeing the child was not an option, they would all sit quietly in plastic chairs until the announcement came that the visiting hour (singular) was over.  Michelle's grandfather always came over and shook my hand and thanked me for coming. Michelle's mother, Marielos, was expected to stay and no one in the family was permitted to give her a break.  For three weeks she sat in a plastic chair by Michelle's bedside 24/7.  A sister moved in to look after her other children. The chicken pox eased but Michelle developed a terrible fever and several very painful skin infections. She refused to get out of bed or walk for days and days and days.  One day I challenged the guard at the entrance and brought her a Guatemalan "happy meal" (fried chicken and fries) which brought a smile to her face.  Progress was laboriously slow.  Her only signs of enthusiasm were when I arrived for the visiting hour with my iPad loaded with toddler apps.

Out of isolation but still poxie.

I called a private physician who went to the hospital to check on Michelle and he was refused admission.  So much for the Hippocratic Oath. A few days later Michelle and her mother were released from the hospital after more than three weeks.  I called "Dr. Oscar" who came to my house and what he found were four life threatening abscesses that had gone under the skin and a high temperature.  Oscar put on gloves and took some swabs from the abscesses.  The following morning he called quite concerned and asked me how long it would take me to bring the child to a nearby private hospital.  Thirty minutes later Oscar was waiting outside the hospital when I drove up with most of the family in my car.  There was, Oscar said, a very real risk of blood poisoning, septicemia, even death.  Amidst lots of screaming more samples were taken for more lab tests and another IV was inserted and Michelle was started on a new, much stronger antibiotic. The directors of her pre-school came to see what support they could offer.  Oscar warned me that the private hospital (private room, intensive care) might cost as much as $2000.00 for the expected ten days.

Books from school.

The private hospital had unlimited visiting hours and allowed the Michelle's aunts to stay with her so that Marielos could have a break and see her other children. Cousins and friends came. Nutritious meals and even sheets were provided. There was much more time with the iPad. Five days later the lab results showed no systemic infection nor organ damage so Oscar and a pediatrician friend, who came twice a day while Oscar was out of town on a medical mission, determined that Michelle could go home and finish her course of antibiotics orally.

On the mend in the private hospital.  Sheets provided.

A week later, though a little lacking in strength, down to 24 pounds and a bit disoriented, she was back in school after missing the first month of classes.  The bill for five days of a private room and all the medications and hospital care was $632.  The bill for two doctors who came twice a day to the hospital was $417 including their lab work.  An ultrasound of the child's liver was $20 and the antibiotics $47.00 Where else could you save a child's life for a bit over $1,000?  How many didn't make it because they didn't know anyone with $1,000?

On her way home with flowers from school.

While Michelle remains concerned whenever she sees me that a doctor will show up she had a great time just a few days after leaving the hospital at a picnic at a nearby finca.  When Dr. Oscar came over with his family to say "hola" Michelle would neither look at him nor speak to him. After all she is not yet four.

Alive and well after one month in hospitals.

Imagine being able to pay for decent health care out of pocket!

Feliz Navidad!

This blog hasn't been widely circulated for a while for reasons you will understand if you read through the postings of the last several months.  Now, however, there are lots of positive things to report although Alexander remains in jail and is likely to stay there for at least the foreseeable future due to his inability to convince anyone to pay almost $8,000 for his release.  As his interactions with all of his children were, at best, minimal and ambiguous everyone is adjusting reasonably well to his absence.

Denis (14) and Astrid (12) started in November at a new bi-lingual, international school (http://antiguainternationalschool.org/) just outside of Antigua. In its first year of operation it is small enough that both children are receiving all the attention and help that they need to catch up after suffering from the Guatemalan educational system.  Denis, whom you might imagine, has suffered the most from having a deadbeat dad is just thrilled with the new school and after six weeks is already using his newly learned English.  I am sure part of his thrill is about having some decent male role models (the director and the majority of his teachers are gringos) who care about him and his progress.  "Dad" may soon be a distant memory.  Astrid, too, has taken to the new school like a fish to water.  The teachers report that both are working very hard.  They have already been on a field trip to the zoo in Guatemala City to do research for a science project.  Both are stunned to find out that school can be fun.

Denis at the school Christmas Party

Astrid wants to be a doctor or veterinarian.

It is possible that Denis and Astrid are also smiling about the school itself which would make any of us want to start the education process over.

School for Denis and Astrid

One of several classrooms

Jackie (16) who is still in the Guatemalan educational trap is learning English if not much else.  It was her choice to attend a bi-lingual secretarial (sort of) high school.  As she is so good with small children and so interested in books and reading it is my hope that she will go on to become a teacher or work in a library.  After her unusual introduction (previous post) to her half-siblings during a car ride to visit her father in jail Jackie has quietly been in contact with their mother and has been spending her school vacation afternoons in the Antigua market taking care of Chris (4) and Michelle (3).

Jackie's only gift from "Papa," a new sister.

And a little brother too.

As you might imagine Estela has always been less than thrilled about the existence of this other family.  However, she too finds life much easier with Alexander locked away.  She now accepts the children maintaining that they are "innocentes."  Jackie has been permitted to go to visit her father with her "step-mother" and all five were recently busy decorating my Christmas tree, the first ever for Chris and Michelle.

Chris and Michelle just finished a vacation program at their bi-lingual, Montessori pre-school and are eager to return in January.  Both are thriving and speaking a mix of English and Spanish.  If only every child in the world was able to go to school, especially a decent school, things might be very different.  Let's keep our eyes on these five (all I can manage), especially little Michelle.

Happy Holidays and let's hope that the world becomes a better place for all in 2012!

Things Are Going to Be All Right

On Saturday last children who never dreamed of going to a jail visited their father.  My scheme worked and the two, Denis and Astrid, readily agreed to go with their previously unknown "step-mother," her sister and their half-sister.  The ride was very quiet needless to say.  The jail is in the middle of nowhere down a long and treacherous dirt road.  I felt physically ill at the sight of the grim, gray place and struggled to understand how it would feel to be confined there.  Vinicio, the driver, was clearly uncomfortable and more so when I got out of the car to help unload the bags of food, water, newspapers.  He told me it was a very dangerous place.  Jackie said "cuidado." Vinicio and I left fairly quickly leaving the group to stand in line for 3 or more hours in order to spend two hours with Alex.

Only time will tell whether Alex has actually learned anything or whether he remains caught up in his own, really quite stellar, performance.  If he has learned anything it may be a bit too late.  The children report that he has been to confession for the first time in his adult life (no reports on how many days it took for him to empty his conscience) and then attended mass and took communion.  While not wanting offend any believers I remain skeptical of this path as it only seems to give some  permission to do it all over again. 

Yet another letter from Alex describes his being overwhelmed with emotion seeing his older children enter the jail with "mi esposa" as he refers to the mother of his two youngest children.  All the reports indicate that it was a good encounter for all.  Denis and Jackie got to see and talk to their father for the first time since he was arrested.  Perhaps more importantly they seem to appreciate the trumped up meeting of their father's second "esposa" and, Marielos reports that Jackie entertained little Michelle the entire day.  Even Estela seemed to get over her anger in about 15 minutes.  Alex had gifts that he had made in a workshop where the  "residents" learn how to make gift items for family members out of empty chip bags.  I suppose it is a good thing that they are being entertained on some level.  

Denis and his mother ordering school uniforms.

With or without (more likely) Alex, life will go on.  Denis and Astrid went to their new school for uniform fittings.  They are very excited about the opportunities that the Antigua International School (http://antiguainternationalschool.org/) will give them.  Late yesterday I attended a Dr. Seuss production of the "Cat in the Hat" for the school year end at Christopher and Michelle's pre-school. Marielos and her sister coveted the printed "diplomas" that each child received as neither one was able to go to school past the second grade.

Life in the market was never like this.

Michelle "graduates"at 3 from pre-school but forgets
her diploma.

Estela reports that Denis and Jackie want to go again to see their father.  I trust that they have figured out that they can meet up with Marielos and her sister and gain access to the jail with them as the sponsoring adults.  Alex has shown interest in my idea that he should write his life story in his leisure time.  He does seem to have access to paper and pen which is considered an unnecessary luxury in most poor homes.  I have promised him "fame and fortune" if he writes it all down.  I am quite certain that if he stars in his own life story that he will win an Oscar for his acting ability.

Yesterday as I was walking towards an ATM I saw a taxi then heard someone say "Hola, Tia Joan." It was one of Alex's friends, one who had been on last year's soccer team.  He gave me a lift to the ATM and questioned like all the rest of us how Alex could have been so stupid.

Letters from Jail

Today I received my second letter from Alex by way of Marielos.  As in the first he talks little about his predicament other than "excuse me for that which has happened."  Spanish speakers, even in jail, are ever so much more polite than gringos.  Surprisingly, he reminisces about places that we have been to before when he was a paid driver.  The restaurant by the lake in Panajachel, the boat ride (his first) on Lake Atitlan.  The times when I was angry with him (often) and the times that I gave him a hug.  In this latest letter he talks about how much he misses his children.  Tomorrow I am sending Estela's two oldest to the jail with Marielos and hope that I will survive Estela's wrath.  I told her today that the children need to see their father to decide how they are going to see him going forward.  I had hoped that my new driver,Vinicio, would be able to accompany Denis and Jackie but he has another commitment.  They are not allowed in without an adult.  In the morning I will explain to them that Vinicio cannot stay so I asked Marielos to go with them.  And I hope it works.  I think the presence of little Michelle will warm everyone up.

Estela and I had a good talk today.  She told me about an incident a couple of months ago when Jackie was unable to go to school for two weeks as there had been a threat against the director of the school.  When she returned to school Jackie was told not to wear her uniform for a period of time.  Estela asked me if things were the same in the US.  I told her that, never before in my life, had I known a person in jail.  I explained to her that (for the most part) the police were respected and that people tried to do the right thing and always tell the truth.  She was surprised to find out that people seldom got away with doing bad things to other people, that most people behaved and respected other people's rights.

I guess only time will tell whether Alex has really learned anything or not.  If he gets out there is nothing out there for him.  No job.  No car.  Nobody who is going to help him.  Perhaps he is better off where he is.  There is a roof ... just a roof.  He has to buy his food.  He has no money.  He has to buy clean water.  He has no money.  He has to pay three times the going rate to make a phone call to ask for food, water, clothes, shoes and money.  Marielos has no money.  Estela has no money.  Estela wouldn't give him any if she did have money.  Marielos gives him what she has and then her kids miss school because she doesn't have bus fare.  Where will it all end?

Between a Rock and a Very Hard Place

Yesterday was Estela's day to visit the attorney and the attorney reports that Alex knows a lot about a lot and that he seems willing to sing to get out of jail.  And of course the jailers are willing to put others at risk in order to get the goods on a whole lot of bad guys including one case that goes back to 1994.  The attorney warned Estela that she and her children could be at risk as, if Alex does sing to gain his freedom, there are those who are likely to seek revenge.  Nice, huh?  Guatemalan justice.  I suppose the same thing happens in the US but I doubt if there is a witness protection plan available to Alex and all of his families.  The attorney reports that Alex is severely depressed which isn't surprising given his options right now.  Too bad he never learned to think about consequences.  It seems that his options are to stay in jail or to risk something terrible happening to one of his kids.  I would be severely depressed too.