Doña Beatrice

I am going to tell you the story of an incredible woman named Doña Beatrice. She has lived an incredibly hard life, of which I only know a little. And yet she is still the kindest, most giving, and warm hearted person.

11 years ago my boss here first met Beatrice. She was driving a friend home that lived near the coast and the friend was going to stop in to visit the family of Beatrice. Judy decided to go in and say hi and meet the family as well. What she found was a grandmother trying to keep two twin babies alive. The father had died and Beatrice´s daughter died in childbirth. She had been keeping the babies alive on one tiny can of concentrated milk. Judy said the babies were practically skeletons and Beatrice did not have any money to buy the right type of formula, or even more milk in general. A few weeks before Judy had been sent a donation of $1000 and she had been trying to think of a worthwhile project for the money. Well she decided to to use that money to keep these twin babies alive. So they paid for formula, doctor visits, etc and today the twins are 11 years.

Well, Beatrice has not only had to keep those twin babies alive. She has constantly been supporting her various children, their various children, and their various children. Today she is pretty old (I don´t know how old exactly, I am not sure she really know either) and is still working hard. She cannot read or write, and yet she has tried hard to give her children, and especially her grandchildren, educations. She has one grandchild who has three children, and dropped out of school. Now Beatrice is trying to convince her to go back to school, to finish her education because she knows what it is like to raise countless children without an education.

When her husband died, 55 years ago, all she had was her sewing machine. She says her sewing machine is like her husband, because it has helped support her and provide for her family. This is a pedal sewing machine, but she does not want a new one for various reasons. First, this one has a lot of sentimental value, but also, electricity is hard to come by where she lives. Yes, she has electricity in her house, but most days it does not work. So if she wants to be able to work, she needs her machine without electricity.

I also want to tell you about Doña Beatrice´s daughter-in-law, Oralia. Oralia and her husband (Beatrice´s son) left one day to go to the United States. They had their coyote (the men who lead people to the desert to cross) and made it almost to the border. In the desert Oralia watched another man shoot her husband and decided to go back home to Guatemala. It took her four months to get back home, and during that time their family in Guatemala had no idea if they were alive or not. Well during her trip home Oralia was raped, and got pregnant. Oralia is also uneducated and has never had many job opportunities. One occupation many people have, especially in the coast, is collecting firewood and selling it. Well one day Oralia was out collecting firewood and was raped again, and got pregant again.

I cannot even imagine having so much tragedy in one family, in one life. And yet people are able to continue living. Beatrice understands more than anyone the value of life, the value of living, the value of family, the value of generosity, and the value of love. I think I would have become an incredibly jaded person and without hope for the world. But Doña Beatrice has hope for her family and hope for the world. She believes that the world can get better. She says she knows enough kind and generous people in the world that she has hope for humanity. And so, among the many things I have learned here, one is the value and beauty in hope.