This morning I went with Carmen (the graduate practicum student here) to visit Yadira and her family. Carmen needed to meet with Yadira’s 14 year-old aunt about some school things, and I just wanted to see where and how Yadira and her family lived.
Yadira lives in the neighborhood of Sutiaba, originally a town of indigenous Indians. The Spanish decided to move the city of Leon after earthquakes convinced them that their old town was haunted (b/c they had been killing all the Indians that resisted their conquest). So they put their new Leon right on Sutiaba. Currently, Sutiaba is still mostly populated by Indians, a fact that they are very proud of.
Yadira’s house is very typical of the poverty most Nicaraguans live in. Most of the house is actually outside. As you enter the area they live in, there is a large outdoor courtyard. This courtyard is filled with ducks and a few ducklings wandering around. The eggs and meat of these ducks often provides a meal for the family. Laundry lines are strung around – today must have been laundry day because the lines are filled with clothing, underwear, and bedding.
Yadira’s dad, Eduardo, greeted us and talked with us for a bit before returning to the kitchen to cook for his children. Yadira’s mom is very sick with a heart problem. Eduardo works for a local company operating some type of machine. Even thought the mom is sick, she still works as a cashier at a restaurant. The kitchen is really just an area with a tin roof overhead, which wasn’t even there until recently, when the group from All Saints Episcopal Church built it. The shower and bathroom are also outside. Neither have roofs, but each is surrounded by a wall on three sides. Not much privacy.
The only indoor part of the house is a small room which houses two beds and a dresser. There are some tables against the wall, which serve to hold the rest of the family’s belongings. The dresser is sparsely filled – it most likely holds the clothing for the whole family. Yadira’s younger brother, Renaldo, proudly showed us his new clothes – 2 non-descript t-shirts.
There is another small house attached to Yadira’s, which houses the rest of her extended family, which is 14 people. Yesterday, one of the older kids gave everyone haircuts. Yadira showed us the place on the ground where they sat while she gave Yadira and her sisters their new looks.
It is a humble home, with conditions that would be condemned in the US. But they are happy. They play simple games and take care of the animals that are their livelihood. Yadira has written on the door to the inside room – Yadira & Byron. Much of life is the same – it just happens in more difficult conditions.
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