Thy are the future
Everyone in the community knows Bertilda. She lives down by the
bridge where the buses stop.
During the armed conflict in the 1980s, Bertilda worked as a volunteer
at the local infant centre to secure the orphans and the poorest
proper nourishment. To Bertilda, this work was very valuable. It
was a shock when the government closed the centre in 1990.
The most important experience in her life was the birth of her
first child in 1984. For Bertilda and her husband, Cruz Antonio,
children are a very big part of life. They have been practicing
birth control for the last ten years. All of their four children
were planned, and all will go to school. Their youngest child, Rosa
Elena is one year old and still gets most of her nutrition directly
from her mother. They have a cow, but like most farm families their
children rarely drink cow milk - instead, the milk is sent as cheese
to the market, to make money.
Bertilda carries Rosa Elena the one-hour walk up the mountain-side
to participate in meetings now that she has joined the farmers’
cooperative in the community. |
