Maria Cortez

Maria Cortez is overweight, as is the infant she holds in her hands for the entire duration of our times together. When she nurses, which she seems to do more often than most, she barely lifts the bottom of her blouse to reveal a low, dark breast and let her baby drink. She has long black hair and a thin, kind smile that brings dimples to her freckled cheeks. Maria was born in El Zaite and has lived here her entire life.

At four months, the infant is the youngest of seven children. Her siblings are 16, 13, 12, 9, 7, and 4. As the children get older, they get thinner as well. The two eldest girls are like string beans with wiry hair. When Debbie visited last, Maria was pregnant. With twins. Possibly there was a partial miscarriage. Also, only four of the children had lived at home. Now all but one share the single room shack.

Her husband works most of the day. He earns about 80 dollars each month. She used to work regularly as well, selling things in the market, but has been unable to since the birth of her youngest child.

Her three daughters (aged 16, 13 and 4) help supplement the family’s income by stitching together shoes. Two pairs of shoes sell for $1.50. The girls try to sell 2 lots daily. There are 24 shoes in a lot (12 pairs). The girls work throughout the day and barely seem to notice my presence in their home.

The house consists of one large room made of concrete covered by planks of sheet metal. The family has no books and no toys apart from the ones children receive at school. There is an upside down disheveled teddy bear in one corner and a thick paperback bible on the bench. A folding table stands in the center of the room holding a large bowl of corn and a box of miscellaneous utensils. There is one bare mattress.

Outside there is a concrete sink and covered well and a brick oven with wood piled beside it. In the empty lot out back, zigzagging laundry lines are covered with pastel-printed cloth scraps. Diapers, I suppose.

Martita, the four-year old girl, has a loose tooth. Apparently, it should be removed by a dentist so the other one doesn’t grow into it. They don’t know when they will go to the clinic. If they will go to the clinic. But the girl seems happy. She slouches low and plays with the tooth and smiles often.

When asked what would improve her life most, Maria responds that there has never been a program or anything to help her improve her life so she doesn’t know what would make it better. When the question is explained differently and I ask what she would like most in life, she responds, “What I would like most is to work, so I could take care of my children.”

They own their home and share the plot with one other family, headed by an elderly woman who brings me a nice plastic chair. Both families get their water from a well on the property. Maria does nothing to treat the water. Every member of the family has been sick from amoebas except the 4-month old. Thank god, she says. The amoebas started with the girl who is 13. She was sick for a month and could not attend school. Then they spread to the other older child and the younger girl. Finally, to the boy and the mother. The children were all taken to the clinic, tested and received treatment. They are well now. The mother was never tested herself.