Sweet Lemons
Deidamie taught me how to eat sweet lemons with salt. "Why have a sweet lemon if you're going to salt it?" I asked.
She shrugged. "That's just the way we eat them!"
We laughed together, and I watched so I would spit the seeds out on the dirt in just the right way, even though I lacked that gold tooth to add the special sparkle.
Deidamie has a sister named Iliana, who lives farther down the mud lane, and both of their families are in our program. One day this week when I stopped in for my daily visit to Iliana's house, Deidamie was there too, swinging in a hammock made from a recycled fishing net with a baby on her stomach. Iliana sat on a little wooden bench nearby, tucked back in the shade.
I wanted to remember that moment, their tranquility, the heat, the peels of oranges littering the ground.
Deidamie is 42, and Iliana is 36. Both of them are grandmothers.
Liliana lives on the other far reaches of town, in a tiny house with her husband and their seven children. Both Liliana and her next door neighbor, Lidia, are in our program. Lidia only has four kids--Natalia, Marcos, Ever, and Lorgio, but her in-laws and her three nephews also live in her house.
Whenever I am visiting at Lidia's, the new piglets come and go through the front door, rooting around in the mud of the floor.
Liliana has a two year son who is always naked, I have never seen him with a stitch of clothing on. The whole family had some serious parasite problems, and when we treated the two youngest boys with anti-parasitic medications, they had worms exiting through their noses and mouths, as well as the other end.
The very calm mother informed me of this the next day. She addressed the situation with composure. "We found worms in their bed this morning," she said, "and they have been coughing them up all day." I think I probably would have flipped if my kid had worms crawling out of his nose.
We have another family in our program in are quite fresh from a Shipivo community. They speak Spanish shyly, and with a distinctive accent. The women aren't too stressed about wearing shirts. When Carly or I make our rounds at their house they often tie traditional beaded bracelets or necklaces on us. One day they gave me a necklace with a crocodile tooth.
She shrugged. "That's just the way we eat them!"
We laughed together, and I watched so I would spit the seeds out on the dirt in just the right way, even though I lacked that gold tooth to add the special sparkle.
Deidamie has a sister named Iliana, who lives farther down the mud lane, and both of their families are in our program. One day this week when I stopped in for my daily visit to Iliana's house, Deidamie was there too, swinging in a hammock made from a recycled fishing net with a baby on her stomach. Iliana sat on a little wooden bench nearby, tucked back in the shade.
I wanted to remember that moment, their tranquility, the heat, the peels of oranges littering the ground.
Deidamie is 42, and Iliana is 36. Both of them are grandmothers.
Liliana lives on the other far reaches of town, in a tiny house with her husband and their seven children. Both Liliana and her next door neighbor, Lidia, are in our program. Lidia only has four kids--Natalia, Marcos, Ever, and Lorgio, but her in-laws and her three nephews also live in her house.
Whenever I am visiting at Lidia's, the new piglets come and go through the front door, rooting around in the mud of the floor.
Liliana has a two year son who is always naked, I have never seen him with a stitch of clothing on. The whole family had some serious parasite problems, and when we treated the two youngest boys with anti-parasitic medications, they had worms exiting through their noses and mouths, as well as the other end.
The very calm mother informed me of this the next day. She addressed the situation with composure. "We found worms in their bed this morning," she said, "and they have been coughing them up all day." I think I probably would have flipped if my kid had worms crawling out of his nose.
We have another family in our program in are quite fresh from a Shipivo community. They speak Spanish shyly, and with a distinctive accent. The women aren't too stressed about wearing shirts. When Carly or I make our rounds at their house they often tie traditional beaded bracelets or necklaces on us. One day they gave me a necklace with a crocodile tooth.
posted by Ansley at 12:43 PM
3 Comments:
Well I'm sure that a necklace with a crocodile tooth is very attractive. All the girls at Smiling Creek will want to see it I'm sure.
Sometimes when I hear your bug stories I wonder if I could really handle that with any tact at all. Of course you didn't see the bugs this time, but I agree with you, I think I would have totally freaked out had I seen those worms coming out right there. Of course freaking out is the worst response, and so I wonder if I could've restrained myself?
Ansley, you need to watch the way you word things...talking about naked children is innocent but I can no longer view your blog through the parental control on the camp computer.. and I won't always be able to borrow one.
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