Los Olores

Today, admittedly, stunk. I had to drop off some papers for the Eye and Ear Hospital social worker before work. Upon arrival I was assaulted by the smell of mopped-up vomit and found myself in the company of over 100 people of all ages (it was 6am) who had seemingly been waiting since before dawn. Publis health services here are a nightmare, and everyone was upset or impatient. The one staff member working was being bombarded with grievances and pleas from impoverished parents. Even in my Pro Ciegos uniform, I was the last person he was interested in pleasing. I finally caught sight of a co-worker I knew and begged him to let me by so I could give her the papers. Running back to the chicken bus, I boarded and got off the bus on time and hurried past the dog poo in Zone 1 to the doors of CECSA.

There were 4 visits planned for today, mostly in zone 18 (a ¨red zone¨in terms of safety) so we got to go in a Pro Ciegos vehicle with a driver instead of on the chicken buses. I sat in the back of a Pro Ciegos Jeep from the Vietnam area and breathed in gas fumes all the way to Zone 18. The first visit was without incident, I conducted the interview and we left shortly.

The second, however, was no party. The house was in a dangerous barrio, and the mother we came to see was not there. We started the interview in the dark of the one room house with the student´s sister, between an unmade bed (shared by all 5 family members) and a pile of fly-infested dirty dishes. Everyone´s clothing was in a large crumpled pile on the floor. There was no running water in the house. The stench was all but unbearable.

We got lost on the way to the third house, but were lucky enough to be stuck behind a bus which emitted a simply unreasonable amount of fumes. It was way too hot to close the windows. Walking up the barranco to the house, we witnessed the mother hitting one child while holding a baby. Inside the house, 5 children under the age of 10 swarmed around us, and the mother did the interview while breastfeeding and yelling at her ¨shiftless¨adolescent son. The young boys jumped on the family bed and whipped each other with a belt (wonder where they learned that).

By the time we got to the fourth home visit we were stranded in the campo with no cellphone signal. The Pro Ciegos driver was ready to kill us, and FR and I both had to pee like race horses. We finally found the fourth house and used their outhouse, which teeters over a 15 foot drop lower into the barranco (and yes, that is where the children play). FR sped through the questions and we got out of there, stat.

We arrived back at CECSA with just enough time to eat lunch and punch out.