Since I´m not ready to engage in social commentary just yet....at least not on the web....I thought 
I´d use this week´s entry to write a little about the family with whom I´m living.
My host family is the Julajuj family (their name is said ¨who la who¨, a Mayan name). There are 7 people in ¨my¨ immediate family: Angel (father), Angelica (32y), Sandra (29y)
, Edy (26y), Quebin (24y), Flor (21y), and David (16y). Their mother, Caterina, passed away from a stroke as a complication of diabetes about 5 years ago.
The family used to raise chickens and ran a small st
ore out of the front of their house until Caterina died. Angel also worked as a carpenter and harvested coffee beans on two small plots they have outside of town. Once Caterina passed away and many of the kids began schooling in the City, they weren´t able to keep up their chicken harvest and the coffee fields weren´t fertilized and maintained. After losing the chicken business, Angel and the kids really struggled to get by but gradually, they are beginning to do better.
Angel still runs a small store out of the front of the house, selling candles, candies, soap, and toilet paper. I don´t think the store makes a lot of money, though. He also brings in some money hosting volunteers and can host up to three at a time. Right now there is one other
volunteer, Chris, who is living in the home and teaching English. He has been here three months and leaves this week. Angel also began making spoons by hand for sale. He works as part of a group of ¨cuchaderos¨, 8 or so men who make and sell spoons largely for sale in the US. Angel sells these spoons, made from a variety of woods and sealed with bees wax, out of the store as well for around $5-15 each, depending on the size. Each one takes him about a day to make.
Angelia, ¨Gela¨, has taken on the role of ¨woman of the house¨ for the most part. She cooks, cleans, and does the laundry. While Sandra helps to clean on Sundays, no one else does laundry, dishes, cooking, or cleaning ever. Sandra works as a book-keeper at a microloan business in town. Edy and Quebin spend all weekdays in the City working 7-6 and then attend accounting classes until 9 each evening. Flor is hoping to be accepted to medical school and lives in the City during the week with her brothers, cooking and cleaning for them while studying for the very challenging entrance exam. David is still in school here in SLT. All the kids come home each Friday or Saturday for
the weekend, travelling about 3 hours on a ¨Chicken Bus¨, a crowded old school bus that is the principle transportation between cities in Guatemala.
Oh, and we have two family dogs: Chiquita, a slender german shepard and Scrappy, a very scrappy little scrapper dog. That´s the best I can do to describe them!
Sharing our little house but using a separate entrance and living fairly independent from us (eating separately) are three of Angel´s sisters and their families. The oldest sister is Panchita (likely 40y), then Flori, then Ana (34y). Panchita has three children: Maria Jose (12ish), Emi (10sih), and Taco (8ish). She is single. Flori i
s also single and has one daughter, Jennifer (7ish). She is adorable, I have to add! And Ana has three kids: David (6y), Esteban (2y), and Francisco (2m). Her husband is currently living in California trying to raise enough money for Francisco to get a repair of his cleft lip and palate. It´s fun having all the kids running around....keeps things interesting!
Until next time....hasta luego....
I´d use this week´s entry to write a little about the family with whom I´m living.My host family is the Julajuj family (their name is said ¨who la who¨, a Mayan name). There are 7 people in ¨my¨ immediate family: Angel (father), Angelica (32y), Sandra (29y)
, Edy (26y), Quebin (24y), Flor (21y), and David (16y). Their mother, Caterina, passed away from a stroke as a complication of diabetes about 5 years ago.The family used to raise chickens and ran a small st
ore out of the front of their house until Caterina died. Angel also worked as a carpenter and harvested coffee beans on two small plots they have outside of town. Once Caterina passed away and many of the kids began schooling in the City, they weren´t able to keep up their chicken harvest and the coffee fields weren´t fertilized and maintained. After losing the chicken business, Angel and the kids really struggled to get by but gradually, they are beginning to do better.Angel still runs a small store out of the front of the house, selling candles, candies, soap, and toilet paper. I don´t think the store makes a lot of money, though. He also brings in some money hosting volunteers and can host up to three at a time. Right now there is one other
volunteer, Chris, who is living in the home and teaching English. He has been here three months and leaves this week. Angel also began making spoons by hand for sale. He works as part of a group of ¨cuchaderos¨, 8 or so men who make and sell spoons largely for sale in the US. Angel sells these spoons, made from a variety of woods and sealed with bees wax, out of the store as well for around $5-15 each, depending on the size. Each one takes him about a day to make.Angelia, ¨Gela¨, has taken on the role of ¨woman of the house¨ for the most part. She cooks, cleans, and does the laundry. While Sandra helps to clean on Sundays, no one else does laundry, dishes, cooking, or cleaning ever. Sandra works as a book-keeper at a microloan business in town. Edy and Quebin spend all weekdays in the City working 7-6 and then attend accounting classes until 9 each evening. Flor is hoping to be accepted to medical school and lives in the City during the week with her brothers, cooking and cleaning for them while studying for the very challenging entrance exam. David is still in school here in SLT. All the kids come home each Friday or Saturday for
the weekend, travelling about 3 hours on a ¨Chicken Bus¨, a crowded old school bus that is the principle transportation between cities in Guatemala.Oh, and we have two family dogs: Chiquita, a slender german shepard and Scrappy, a very scrappy little scrapper dog. That´s the best I can do to describe them!
Sharing our little house but using a separate entrance and living fairly independent from us (eating separately) are three of Angel´s sisters and their families. The oldest sister is Panchita (likely 40y), then Flori, then Ana (34y). Panchita has three children: Maria Jose (12ish), Emi (10sih), and Taco (8ish). She is single. Flori i
s also single and has one daughter, Jennifer (7ish). She is adorable, I have to add! And Ana has three kids: David (6y), Esteban (2y), and Francisco (2m). Her husband is currently living in California trying to raise enough money for Francisco to get a repair of his cleft lip and palate. It´s fun having all the kids running around....keeps things interesting!Until next time....hasta luego....
No comments:
Post a Comment