But people here are happy. They don't need the finer things because they have each other. After the recent history Salvadorans have been through, having each other is enough.
On Friday we were having a bad Spanish day. Everyone was frustrated, verbs ceased to conjugate, and one of us regressed to the "terrible two's" and threw a tantrum over pronouns. Needless to say, we were not feeling very excited to visit the local school for another community contact interview.
At the school we met a lot of children, but we spent the most time with Haiti. Haiti is 9 years old, wears shiny earrings, and likes to read. Haiti is also the only blind student at the school. She learns to read braille in a small room in the middle of the school that could easily be compared to a closet. The school is loud because all the children's screams bounce off the paint slicked concrete blocks. The ground is terribly uneven with gutters running throughout to collect water during the rainy season. Haiti moved around the school slowly, reaching in front of her to avoid bumping into things. She hit her head on a door frame once, but laughed and shook it off.
Her teacher showed us the stencil she uses to write sentences in braille. It looks like a long process, poking little holes into the paper to make bumps come out on the other side. Haiti was excited to show us how she writes with the stencil, and wrote each of our names on red construction paper. When she was done she ran her fingers over our names.
"Aaaaale, Kaaaai, Mariiiia."
People don't have a lot here, but most people have their sight. They can hear. They can walk and talk and live their lives regularly. Haiti has an extra challenge in addition to poverty. I felt incredibly shameful when she handed me the red slip of construction paper with my name on it. We thanked her, hugged her goodbye, and then proceeded to cry together in the schoolyard. It was an experience that put our morning frustrations into perspective.
I keep this slip of paper with me in my Spanish folder for days when I feel like complaining about the present perfect tense or past participles. It reminds me that I have all the tools I need to communicate with the world and really make a change in people's lives. And for me, that's enough.
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