Lidia, Bolivian police and DV, a bit of culture

The best thing that happened in the last two weeks is that we raised more than $4,000 for Lidia, a young Bolivian woman who works as a domestic worker earning less than $100 per month, to attend nursing school. Thank you to everyone who donated, and especially to my mom for receiving all of the checks and depositing them for me! (As well as for handling all of Gary´s and my financial affairs while we are traveling. A trip like this would not be possible without her help!)

Lidia starts nursing school today, something that would be impossible without this help. I saw her this morning, and she is so excited!

The worst thing that happened was that we had to intervene when a woman was being beaten by her husband. Our three house mates and Gary and I share a yard with a woman and her husband and one-year-old son, who live in the house behind ours. Last weekend, the woman´s husband went out of town and the woman attended our back yard barbecue. She laughed and ate and had a glass of wine with us for about an hour, while her son slept.

The husband somehow found out, apparently from a neighbor who is spying on the woman. The husband called her telling her that it was scandalous and that he would beat her when he got home.

We encouraged the woman to get a restraining order, but the police refused to help her get one. They said that if there was any trouble, the neighbors would help.

So we all went to bed very nervous on the night that the husband was expected home. Fortunately, our housemates Mac and Miranda stay up late, and they were awake when the husband showed up at 2 a.m. Miranda woke Gary and me up and we went into the back yard to listen. I heard the sound of smacks, and the woman crying. We called 911 and asked for the police to come right away.

Meanwhile, the noise continued. The four of us walked back toward the house, until the husband saw us and shouted, "What do you want." I said that we wanted to check that everything was ok. He sneered "everything is fine." I shouted for the woman, and she came out of the house carrying her son. She said that the husband´s parents were on their way. The husband followed her into the driveway, shouting, and we followed. He shouted at her, "Are you going to make a complaint?" and she shouted "yes, because you have hit our son." She asked me to call her sister, which I did, and I also called the police again. They did not seem to be in a hurry.

The husband´s parents showed up, and there was more yelling, and then the woman´s sister arrived with her two children. The husband started to leave and just then the police finally showed up. Upon seeing that the husband was leaving, the police promptly left without getting any information.

The woman told us that he had hit her while she was holding the baby, and in doing so he hit the baby too. He also prevented her from leaving the house until we came.

The good news is that the husband has moved out, and the woman is filing for divorce. Divorce is legal in Bolivia, but you have to show cause. She will have to prove that there was physical violence. Fortunately, the husband has been going around bragging about how he had to hit her because she misbehaved while he was away. Meanwhile, the woman has bought her very own barbecue grill.

I read in the newspaper that 70% of Bolivian women are victims of abuse, either physical or psychological.

The most fun thing that happened this week is that we celebrated Miranda´s birthday. Kristina baked a cake, and then we went out for Indian food and then dancing. My house mates decided to dress me up in some different clothes. For the past five months, my wardrobe has consisted of three sleeveless shirts, one Peruvian sweater, one fleece pullover and two pairs of pants, all very boring and practical. So it was a lot of fun to go out dressed in something else.

And we´ve had a bit of culture. We went to the Cine Center cinema complex to see Love in the Time of Cholera. Like most movies here, it was in English with Spanish subtitles. At home, we watched a Bolivian movie. And we saw the Russian Ballet on Ice, El Cascanueces (the Nutcracker) which made me want to ice skate, and we went to a concert of traditional Bolivian music, performed in a huge beautiful old theatre.

There is an elderly Bolivian woman who lives in our neighborhood, and who surprises us by speaking perfect English, with no accent. It turns out that she studied in Canada. A young Canadian couple lived in our house before Gary and I moved in, and the elderly woman was so pleased to meet people from Canada that they talked and talked. The next time they saw the woman, she said, "And where are you girls from?" They realized that she has Alzheimer´s disease or something similar, and that they can surprise and please her again and again by being Canadian.

That´s all for now. We´re planning to take a small trip over Easter weekend, and a longer trip to Brazil in April!