The end of the rope

This week I reached the end of my Albertina rope. I didn’t really realize before this week just how much of a difference there is between Sabina and Albertina, although I’ve known there is a difference, because there is always a mama I like working with Albertina to balance her out. This week however a mama I don’t really know worked with Albertina on Tuesday and Thursday. While Doña Martha doesn’t yell at the kids or do anything particularly bad, the problem is that she doesn’t do anything. She is a very passive, quiet, and reserved person. Having Martha and Albertina together was probably the most challenging days at work I’ve ever had.

Thursday I even left work enojadiiisima

Angry that Albertina and Martha had basically ignored me all day long – talking between themselves during baño and while folding laundry in the afternoon as if I wasn’t even in the room. Angry that they hadn’t tickled, laughed with, or kissed any of the kids while bathing them and getting them ready in the morning – that they had treated the kids like a process in a factory, just going through the motions. Angry that the kids could tell these mama’s didn’t care as much and took to revolting and walking all over the baño with their basins. Angry that I couldn’t handle every other kid crying when I tried to manage the sala by myself all afternoon. Angry that they hadn’t spent a single minute playing with the kids either in the morning or afternoon. Angry that they had disappeared for half an hour, nowhere to be found in the baño or sala, after changing diapers in the afternoon. Angry that I was letting them affect my mood. Angry that when I left in the afternoon they were going to be left for three hours without someone to give them the love and attention they deserve and more.

Generally 100% pissed. Pardon my language.

So in that mindset I went to a travel agent to ask about flights home – supposedly there was a direct flight from Santa Cruz to Washington DC, but apparently “direct” means a stop in Panama and Dallas. So instead I went to the internet café and booked a flight with American Airlines for May 22^nd from Santa Cruz to Miami and Miami to D.C. I guess it was better for me to do this at a time when I was angry and ready to leave rather than when I couldn’t bare the thought of leaving this beautiful country I’ve fallen in love with.

When I had first arrived at Solomon Klein in August the director, Emma, had told me if I ever saw a mama not giving the kids enough love or treating them well that I should say something. While I’ve always had a slight problem with the way Albertina treats the kids, I knew that Emma already knew she was difficult to work with because several of the mamas had told me of conversations they’d had with Emma about how they would work at any time of day in any sala with anyone BUT Albertina. However, after Thursday I knew I needed to talk to Emma myself, even if it was just to reaffirm what she already knew.

Friday I walked into the baño in the morning to smiles and laughter with Sabina and Emilen and the kids rather than the stoic faces and chaos of Thursday. It was casi imposible to believe that it was the same place I had been yesterday and that the change of two people in the room could make that much of a difference. Friday was an absolutely amazing day at work. There is no other word to express the day. I saw Sabina chasing the kids around the sala, tickling them, stimulating them, and generally enjoying every single one of them. After lunch I went to Emma’s office to talk to her and that conversation was also amazing. She knows and agrees with the fact that Albertina is no longer a good mama and that she tends to treat the job like factory work. The problem, she explained, is that Albetina is one year away from retirement and there are laws protecting women workers in Bolivia from being fired right before retirement. Mostly to make sure they aren’t getting denied pensions, but in this case making it impossible for Emma to fire Albertina now. So instead we discussed how maybe Emma would keep one of the mama’s who had worked in my sala before and had said last week that she wanted to quit to go back to school, but this week had come back to Emma saying she wanted to stay because her family needed the money. Emma had told her that it wasn’t a game – to decide one week to quit and the next to stay – but told me that maybe she would keep her on to work with Albertina because they had worked together before and not had too many problems and she treats the kids really well. Someone who won’t butt-heads with Albertina and will also be able to balance out Albertina’s stoicism. After that discussion we went on to talk about Emma’s family (she has a daughter my age who has been studying medicine in Cuba for 6 years and she hasn’t seen her for that whole time), how she never gets to rest , how she studied in North Carolina for a year when she was preparing to take over as director of Solomon, about how great some of the other mama’s are, and other topics for another half an hour.

Perhaps the most amazing thing I took away from this whole experience is how although education is extremely important and can make all the difference in a person’s life, there are some things that education cannot teach. Albertina and Martha are both professionals – a nurse and a dentist – who studied for years with specialties in caring for kids. Sabina has never even learned to read and write. Yet the innate difference in their spirits is astonishing. Emma told me that she has been paying for Sabina to go to night classes so she can learn to read and write so that she can better help to educate the kids and read with them – an initiative that I find truly inspirational in a woman who is just learning to read at over 50 years old for the sake of 21 kids who aren’t even her own. That passion is something I will definitely take with me. Some people could blame the fact that Albertina has been working at Solomon for almost 5 years as to why she is burned out (but has been working in general for over 14 and she needs 15 years for pensions/retirement), but Sabina has been working at Solomon for over 20 with a passion and love in her eyes stronger than ever.