The Most Incredible Day part 2

After we left Daisy’s home, we started back down the road, planning to go to a boy’s house, Seferino, who had received the cleft lip surgery, but was planning to come back for the palate surgery, which is done separately. After, we planned to visit a boy who had received the cleft and palate surgeries, Alexander, and later Susanna, who is eight months old and hasn’t received either the cleft lip or palate surgery. It was a good ten minutes into our drive, when Daniela started shouting excitedly. At the time, I was half asleep. The entire trip I’ve been at the point where if I’m given five minutes, exhaustion sets in and I’ll find myself drifting off. By the time I realized what was going on, we had pulled over to the side of the road and Daniela was already getting out of the van. It turns out that Seferino was with his mom, on the side of the road coming back from cutting wood. She stood rather regally, with Seferino strapped to her side in cloth sling. Daniela, always enthusiastic, knew the family well and began speaking in rapid Spanish. Her nanny, who also served as a translator from Spanish to Tzotzil, quickly followed with the translation. As Daniela kept interacting with the family, one thing became increasingly clear to me: despite needing the cleft palate surgery, they might not come. Daniela began to represent all of the different reasons why he should have surgery, including improving his ability to speak, eat, drink, and prevent infections. Towards the beginning of what became a good half-an-hour discussion, his father came up holding a well-worn machete. Now, that was certainly something that caught me by surprise, but I’d like to point out it was clearly used for farming. Though I must say, seeing a person walking up with a machete definitely results in something rather more than a double take.

However, Seferino’s family was nicely dressed, his mom in the traditional wear and his father in dress shoes and nice khakis. As the conversation progressed, it became increasingly apparent that while his father was more amenable to the idea, his mom had some reservations. Briefly, his parents talked amongst themselves, most of us had absolutely no clue what they were saying, but it certainly seemed like they were coming around to the idea of coming back.

Later, Daniela explained to me, the reason why his mom didn’t want him to come was because the first time, they didn’t fully understand what was going to happen and though they did fix his lip, she didn’t want him to go through the pain of surgery again. it was the first time that I realized just how scary that experience could be from the parents’ point of view. Though I’ve seen the anxiety before, it never crossed my mind that fear would actually prevent a family from wanting to get surgery.

Right before we left, Alexander’s family came down the road, the other family that we were going to see. It was a moment of complete fortune. Now, Daniela, who had been using Alexander as her example for why Seferino should come back for surgery, could actually show the family just how successful Alexander’s surgery had been. Alexander had been born with a bilateral, two splits, cleft lip and palate. Seferino only had a unilateral cleft palate that hadn’t been fixed. Daniela represented just how important of a surgery it was, using Alexander as an eager model.

Around this time, I started talking to a relative of Alexander’s who had come with him. Honestly, it’s more accurate to say that I tried talking, rather than actually succeeding. Micayla was clearly around my age, and it was fascinating to me just how different our lives were, despite being nearly the same age. However, my Spanish skills are clearly in need of help, and I quickly exhausted my vocabulary. Shortly after, finally hopeful that they might show up to screening, we left and headed to our final home visit.

Susana, Daniela told us, was the second child of two younger parents. When Daniela first met her mother, Margarita, shortly after she was born, she was covered in bruises head to toe. It was at this point that both Diana, the photographer, and I began to imagine just what could follow. Daniela confirmed our suspicions, and proceeded to explain how her husband, Fernando, had beaten her after getting drunk. Apparently, this had become an even bigger problem once Susana was born. Daniela, who I have begun to realize is a one-woman powerhouse, gave the family the special bottle that cleft palate kids need for feeding. Then, after showing Fernando the price of the milk, told him she would give it to him for free. However, the catch was this - he had to stop beating Margarita. Proudly she exclaimed that for the past eight months, she hadn’t been hit once.

By the time we arrived, I was extremely curious about what was going to happen. The house they lived in had a concrete floor, instead of dirt, and they had windows, signs, Daniela told us, meant that they were better off. It was a one-room house, and they lived next door to Fernando’s parents. Meeting Margarita was almost more interesting to me than meeting Susana because she had endured so much. She seemed much older than me, despite being only a year older, it was an interesting experience to realize, even though I typically consider myself more mature for my age, there is a entirely different level that most people my age won’t reach for another five to ten years, and most don’t want to until then. What struck me about her, and all the families we met throughout the day, was how strong they were. The women especially seemed to emanate strength. Margarita and Daniela talked in Spanish while Diana looked for the best lighting and I just took it all in. Susana is the sweetest little girl, but tiny, in fact, it is a serious worry that she won’t qualify for surgery because she is so small. It turns out that she had been sick, and we noted that she still had a little cough. However, she will certainly come on the second day of screening, when things are a little bit chaotic. We spent a lot of time with her while Diana took photos and I interviewed Margarita. She was wonderful to let us into her life, and we spent a great deal of time with her. As we left, Fernando came home from work, but went straight to his parents’ house. Honestly, I think he is embarrassed when he is around Daniela, because he is ashamed that she knows how he used to treat her. It was quite the situation to hear about and observe from the outside. The great thing is though, Daniela told us that in those eight months, Margarita has become much more outgoing, and is “a completely different person.”