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CarmenThe Little Woman With a Big HeartWe had the great pleasure of working with Carmen during our outreach clinic trip in September 2005. As on all of our trips we try to work with as many locals as possible and Carmen, a young Mayan woman, came to translate for us between Qe'qchi (one of 21 Mayan languages) and Spanish. 
From the first day we saw Carmen's potential. She was quiet and shy, but eager and intelligent. Her interest in the medical world around her was clear. Her eyes were always wide open and hungry for knowledge. Her touch was gentle and sincere. Before long she was initiating evaluations, having learnt the routine. It was evident that this beautiful young woman had all the qualities to make an excellent nurse. When we mentioned in passing how she should become one she smiled with a dreamy look and responded "oh, if only…" When we asked Carmen what she did she explained that she used to clean a wealthy Guatemalan woman's house, but she had been mistreated and had been very unhappy and so she left. Now she helped her mother take care of the home and raise her younger siblings. When she heard that translators were needed for our clinics she asked her father if she could do this. It was a struggle for her to get permission to leave for a few days but she was delighted when her parents agreed. It was clear that Carmen had the potential to blossom into something more, should she so desire. After working with Carmen for a few days we sat her down one evening and explained how much we thought of her. She smiled bashfully but was obviously delighted with the compliments. We then explained that we thought she would make an excellent nurse, and, if she was interested, we would gladly help put her through nursing school. |
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Suddenly her smiles turned to tears and we wondered what had we done. In our zeal had we overstepped our boundaries? What lines had we unconsciously crossed? As we talked to her she explained that she feared talking to her father as he would say she was needed at home. We quickly back-pedaled and told her that our offer was merely a suggestion. Nothing would happen if she didn't want it to. It was her decision, not something being forced on her by us. She relaxed a little and and asked if we could write a letter to her father explaining all we had said, and mail it to her brother who she thought would intervene on her behalf. When we returned back to Canada we wrote the letter and waited for a response. Several months later we still had not received any word from Carmen or from our local contacts and assumed the letter had not been well received. We were disappointed for Carmen but had to respect her family's wishes. Four months later, while on another trip to Guatemala, we made a detour to visit Carmen and our other friends in the town of Chisec. When she heard that we were there she came with welcoming smiles and token food gifts. She informed us that the letter had not arrived but that she had taken the huge step of talking to her family .
To her, and our, amazement her father had welcomed our offer! We were thrilled. She brought him to meet us and we told him how special we thought his daughter was. He smiled and smiled and kept thanking us for what we were doing for her. Then she shyly asked if she could start school right away, and, the next week, she did. |
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