A woman
Mercedes' house and yard were always full of riotous children,
the sound level was something that could even faze a kinder-garten
teacher. Kids knew they were welcome in the house where Mercedes
ruled, nobody chased them away, threw stones or shouted for quiet.
Today, the kids are still there but they play among sacks of seed
corn, wire fences for chicken coops and aluminium sheeting for corn
silos.
Mercedes, with lists in hand, is organising distribution of the
foreign donations, chairing meetings of the women’s committee,
negotiating credit policy with the foreign charities. Often, she
is doing the accounts by candlelight, pencil in hand.
Mercedes has always been a take charge woman but it was Hurricane
Mitch of 1998 that catapulted her into the role of community leader.
With the roads washed out, the church filled with storm victims,
wells soiled by mud and cholera threatening … well, somebody
had to organise things. Husbands were busy rescuing animals stuck
in the mud, shoring up the houses. It was the women who went from
house to house organising food and bedding for the refugees, nagging
everybody about washing their hands and boiling the water. They
provided an organised point of contact for government relief services
as they gradually recovered from the usual total breakdown in the
face of crisis. Mercedes never looked back. |
