Dance Lest We All Fall Down - Margaret Willson [78]
Claudia: Here we have a sad story. If it were easy to change poverty and lack of education, the world would presumably be further along than it is. Claudia is very bright, and her public school was somewhat better than the others, so she will likely have little difficulty passing the private school entrance exam. However, her mother has a nineteen-year-old boyfriend, who is spending most of his time at the house and not doing much else. He and all of Claudia’s family continue to live in one room. Claudia, understandably, has become distracted from her studies, and her mother is not encouraging her toward study at all. In fact, her mother steals her bus money. Because of Claudia and Patricia’s families, we have added some rules: families are paid their stipend at the end of the month, and if the girl misses more than three days (unless she is sick), they do not receive the stipend for that month. If a girl misses more than three days for three months, she is expelled from the program. Madalena is also now in charge of all the bus tokens, and as each girl arrives for tutoring, she is given her bus tokens only for the next day. We are allowing Claudia to take the entrance exam; the rest is up to her and her mother.
Patricia: Her story is the saddest of all. First of all, we found out that Patricia’s father does not have thirty-nine children—he has forty-nine. His wife, Patricia’s mother, Maria, got herself sterilized after twelve children; this was apparently such an affront to the father’s masculinity that he has now impregnated another woman (why this woman had sex with a seventy-seven year old man with tuberculosis is beyond me). Patricia is very bright and likes to study, but her mother often keeps her at home to look after the other children. Some time before Patricia entered the program, she began skipping school. Since she started the tutoring, she dropped out altogether, although she continued with the tutoring and studies enthusiastically. Rita told her that she would not be able to continue with the program if she did not pass the fifth grade, but she would not go back. She says she hates the public school but will not tell us why. She is the only one of the five girls who will not be taking the entrance exam. Patricia is confused and upset, and we fear she is suffering under conditions she will not discuss. The tutoring is clearly her only stability right now and is a lifeline. Because we do not want to abandon her, we have told her that she can continue to attend the tutoring, but that we shall cut the stipend for her family. Rita has also ensured that she can reenroll at her public school. Her mother was extremely angry at the loss of the stipend and threatened to press charges against us with the military police—the exact nature of these supposed charges was unclear—but it appears that her threat was a bluff. In reality, it is unlikely that she wished to draw her family to the attention of the military police. Although we need to stay clear of Patricia’s family, we will not lose contact with Patricia and will offer her help when it can be effective.
Christina: She is the eight-(just-turned-nine) year-old who came to us illiterate and whom we seriously considered dropping because of family problems. Her mother is now working twelve hours a day, six days a week as a maid, and earns about $100 a month. She has recovered from tuberculosis and is not working any longer as a prostitute (I think we can thank the half-stipend we give her for that). Christina’s mother sleeps on the floor of a friend’s two-room shack and hires Rosa, a neighbor, to care for Christina and Christina’s younger brother. For this she pays about $30 a month. She visits the children on Sundays.
Rosa lives with her husband, another foster child, Christina, and Christina’s brother in a tiny