More family

There's another family that is part of this household: Petrona, her sister, Julia and two nieces Megan and Jimena-- who all work as housekeepers.
This is Petrona and her 5 year old son Marcelo (dressed up to attend a school ceremony). Petrona has worked for the family for 11 years. She and Marcelo live here at the house and also have their own apartment for days off.

Marcelito and Foster have been fast friends since they first met--they play together constantly. Here they are now and a few years back. Marcelo calls me "Tia Karen" (Aunt Karen)--so much so that Foster often calls me "Tia" too! And Susan is Marcelito's "Abu" (grandmother) Sue.

Petrona's sister Julia with her daughters Megan and Lady. Megan is a high school senior this year and has started working two half-days a week at the house to help pay school expenses. Although uniforms are technically illegal, all schools-- public and private-- seem to require special gym clothes and one or more dress suits for the older students, plus school supplies and fees for special events and ceremonies...really adds up.
Jimena is Petrona and Julia's niece. While looking for full-time work (she has a degree to teach English) she has been coming on Sundays and has a particular talent for hair braiding that is popular with the girls!
Julia in 2007 with Susana and Marcelito in awayo
Playing with cars on the dining room table.

Petrona has always showered affection on all the kids. She and Julia also love talking to Elliott and Larry...and grilling me for health care information (?!)

The housekeepers--especially Petrona and Marcelito—are very much a part of our daily lives here. It is thanks to their employment at the house that I have had the absolute luxury of NOT having to wash clothes, wash dishes, make beds, or tidy up (too much), etc. for the last 3 months! Plus they can be here to meet the school bus if I'm out for the morning and running late. Combine that with a built-in playmate in Marcelito, and you already know that Susan does all the shopping and cooking for us...well you can see I'm at a full-service, 5-star, kid-friendly resort!

I happened to read the book The Help shortly after arriving here, and it was rather uncanny to be reading about 1960's housekeepers in Mississippi at the start of the civil rights movement while being part of a household with full-time "help" in 2010. There are a number of similarities--particularly in the way housekeepers and nannies become central in the lives of the children they raise. (This is in general--in this house it happens to be the opposite—as Abu Sue is central to the raising of Marcelito, but that is unusual). And certainly in Bolivia civil rights are secure, now more so than ever. The indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, keeps the rights of the indigenous front and center at all times.

It's the major economic disparity that is the challenge—it is precisely because wages are very low that housekeepers can be afforded. This has been the case for a long time; live-in or full-time housekeepers are such an institution in Bolivia that the floorplan for many homes (and even some small apartments) often includes a "maid’s room."

I am not going to try to offer a more in-depth analysis of the socio-economic divide here. The main thing I wanted to do was introduce these folks that are part of our daily lives and that have helped to take care of us. They are empleadas, but they are a family within a family that have been a wonderful part of our experience here!