The Pilgrimage Continues...
Matilde, a Guatemalan, just Arrived Matilde has a newborn and has been all over the place, going from home to home with the promise of work, but doesn't ever seem to get paid. Finally, she had an offer. Someone said that they would give her $3,000.00 for her baby. Her reponse: I have suffered much, I am suffering, but I am not crazy. No estoy loca. I will not sell my baby. I speak the Mayan language better than Spanish, but I understand this question. We were happy to be able to help her keep the baby, undocumented or not. And the Battered Women? We accepted Blanca yesterday from the HPD Family Violence unit. She is on crutches because of the recent battering from her husband. She thinks her collar bone may be broken from a previous episode when he picked her up by her feet and threw her across the room. After twenty years of abuse, she has left her husband for the first time. Should we refuse her? And what about Norma, who came to us with her face all swollen up, eyes and mouth full of stitches, a broken jaw and two shattered molars. (She told us a few days later that her husband had kicker her in the face.) Both of these women have husbands who are citizens, but who refuse to legalize them--so they can keep power over them. Should we refuse them and their children when they come to us in fear for their lives? Whose Responsibility We will probably continue to have problems until some agency of the government steps forward and says: It is our responsibility to do this work and you have no right to be taking care of these poor people. That will be the day! A beautiful day--a Dorothy Day! We know! We just know that on Christmas Eve will come this couple asking for shelter. They will be undocumented people sent by a local inn (agency) and their names will be Joseph and Mary, and Mary will be pregnant with child. Should we dump them on the street? Pray for us now and in the hour of need. Many thanks. Houston Catholic Worker, , Vol. XIII, No. 5, December 1993  |
