On Friday this past week, I spent some time with one of the women from the barrio called Libertad at her home. I was really excited to have the chance to get to know someone without much pretense and without formally interviewing them, and to just get to know them as a person. The woman I spent time with, Doña Miriam, even answered most of what I wanted to know just offering her story to me and telling me about herself. Of course, as an invested listener and participant in the conversation, I asked her follow up questions and answered whatever questions she had for me. I won't record every detail here, but here are some highlights, with accompanying photos.
There are a lot of stray dogs around the city of Cochabamba, but sometimes they get adopted. Miriam told me that a few years ago, she and her family already had around seven dogs that they were taking care of, and when this one showed up, she told her husband not to give it food and invite it to their place because then it would get used to it, and they already had too many dogs. But then this dog persisted, and her husband said, "But look at his face, he looks so sad!" and gave him food anyway. The word for said in Spanish is triste, and Triste became the dog's name. I found it really funny. He's been with them for three years now, and at the moment shares their home with two other dogs and two cats.
I asked Doña Miriam if she had a piece of paper so I could draw her baby, so she handed me this graphing notebook. This is her third son, and he's around 3 months old. She also has a 10-year-old and a 16-year-old. There were complications with his birth apparently, but he ended up being okay. She actually told me that she wanted a girl really badly that when she found out he was a boy, she cried. She really loved the drawing and said she'd hang it up. That made me glad! She used to work with her husband in their sewing workshop all the way until the end of her pregnancy but now just stays with the baby and watches telenovelas. I like to think that my company gave her some kind of pleasant way to pass the time and to talk to somebody.
Towards the end of my time at her house with her, we were talking about how we don't really wear much makeup or jewelry, but she likes to wear lipstick from time to time. She asked me if I wore earrings, and I told her that I do. Then she went to a box that she had and took out a pair and asked me to try them on. So I did, and she asked if I liked them. I said yes, they were pretty, then she told me that she would give them as a gift. I was so touched by that gesture, because she really didn't have to, though she told me that she didn't really wear them anyway. She said the way that they sparkle and change colors in sunlight is really nice. I thanked her as sincerely as I could. I know for sure I'll wear them whenever I have to present this research; it's so nice to have such a lovely reminder of my time with these communities and of course of Doña Miriam and the stories she's told me of her life.
There are a lot of stray dogs around the city of Cochabamba, but sometimes they get adopted. Miriam told me that a few years ago, she and her family already had around seven dogs that they were taking care of, and when this one showed up, she told her husband not to give it food and invite it to their place because then it would get used to it, and they already had too many dogs. But then this dog persisted, and her husband said, "But look at his face, he looks so sad!" and gave him food anyway. The word for said in Spanish is triste, and Triste became the dog's name. I found it really funny. He's been with them for three years now, and at the moment shares their home with two other dogs and two cats.
I asked Doña Miriam if she had a piece of paper so I could draw her baby, so she handed me this graphing notebook. This is her third son, and he's around 3 months old. She also has a 10-year-old and a 16-year-old. There were complications with his birth apparently, but he ended up being okay. She actually told me that she wanted a girl really badly that when she found out he was a boy, she cried. She really loved the drawing and said she'd hang it up. That made me glad! She used to work with her husband in their sewing workshop all the way until the end of her pregnancy but now just stays with the baby and watches telenovelas. I like to think that my company gave her some kind of pleasant way to pass the time and to talk to somebody.
Towards the end of my time at her house with her, we were talking about how we don't really wear much makeup or jewelry, but she likes to wear lipstick from time to time. She asked me if I wore earrings, and I told her that I do. Then she went to a box that she had and took out a pair and asked me to try them on. So I did, and she asked if I liked them. I said yes, they were pretty, then she told me that she would give them as a gift. I was so touched by that gesture, because she really didn't have to, though she told me that she didn't really wear them anyway. She said the way that they sparkle and change colors in sunlight is really nice. I thanked her as sincerely as I could. I know for sure I'll wear them whenever I have to present this research; it's so nice to have such a lovely reminder of my time with these communities and of course of Doña Miriam and the stories she's told me of her life.
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