Cecilia

There are quite a few Panamanian families living on a street at the far end of the property.  They all live in little, typical Panamanian houses built of brick with the exception of one.  This is Cecilia.  Here she is with her two children.  She is Indian and is the poorest of the poor.  I met Cecilia when she would come around cutting a certain type of weed which they fashion into brooms to sweep the dirt that is their yard.  They try to eliminate snake habitat by keep these area near the house free of vegetation.  The brooms are used to sweep up any leaves that fall on the dirt.  She tells me that her mother says you might be poor but you don't have to be dirty.

Cecilia lives in a two room bamboo hut with her brother.  The brother suffers from some mental problems as a result of being beaten up at some point in his life.  She has 2 children but no husband and desperately wanted this second child on her left for the life of me I will never know why.  She has no power and no stove, she cooks over an open fire but has no fridge.  She washes clothes on a rock in the yard which is up on top of a 45 gallon drum and bathes in the river.  She must find it awfully difficult in the rainy season I can't even imagine.

The older boy is terribly hyperactive and has a wandering eye.  I believe that he is more or less unteachable as he won't sit down in school long enough to learn plus with his eyes going off in different directions he must see 2 of everything.  

Nonetheless Cecilia loves me and is always telling me that she prays for my safety bless her heart.