Front-9
Meanwhile, Chelo’s (family had cleaned up a small weed patch and garbage area
at the lower edge of town. With much hard work they had constructed a simple
irrigation system using ditches and grooved logs. At last they had a successful
vegetable plot, which brought in a small income. Chelo’s health had improved, but
he would never be strong. Treatment had begun too late.
Economically. Chelo had one setback after another. Just when he was beginning
to get out of debt to the storekeepers and landholders, he fell ill with appendicitis.
He needed hospital surgery, so health workers and neighbors carried him 23
kilometers on a stretcher to the road, and from there took him to the city by truck.
The surgery (in spite of the fact that the doctor lowered his fee) cost as much as
the average farmworker earns in a year. The family was reduced to begging.
The only valuable possession the family had was a donkey. When Chelo returned
from the hospital, his donkey had disappeared. Two months later, a neighbor
spotted it in the grazing area of one of the wealthier families. A new brand—still
fresh—had been put right on top of Chelo’s old one.
Chelo went to the village authorities, who investigated. They decided in favor
of the wealthy thief, and fined Chelo. To me, the most disturbing thing about this
is that when he told me about it. Chelo did not even seem angry—just sad. He
laughed weakly and shrugged, as if to say. “That’s life. Nothing can be done.”
His stepson, Raul, however, took all these abuses very hard. He had been a
gentle and caring child, but stubborn, with an enormous need for love. As he got
older, he seemed to grow angrier. His anger was often not directed at anything in
particular.
An incident with the school was the last straw. Raul had worked very hard
to complete secondary school in a neighboring town. Shortly before he was to
graduate, the headmaster told him in front of the class that he could not be given
a certificate since he was an illegitimate child—unless his parents got married.
(This happened at a time when the national government had decided to improve its
statistics. The president’s wife had launched a campaign to have all unwed couples
with children get married. The headmaster’s refusal to give graduation certificate
icates to children of unwed parents was one of the pressures used.} Chelo and his
wife did get married—which cost more money—and Raul did get his certificate But
the damage to his pride remains.
Young Raul began to drink. When he was sober, he could usually control himself.
But he had a hard time working with the local health team because he look even
the friendliest criticism as a personal attack. When he was drunk, his anger often
exploded. He managed to get hold of a high-powered pistol, which he would shoot
into the air when he was drinking. One night he got so drunk that he fell down
unconscious on the street. Some of the young toughs in town, who also had been
drinking, took his pistol and his pants, cut off his hair, and left him naked in the
street. Chelo heard about it and carried Raul home.
After this, Raul hid in shame for two weeks. For a while he did not even visit his
friends at the health post. He was afraid they would laugh. They did not. But Raul
had sworn revenge-he was never quite sure against whom. A few months later,
when drunk, he shot and killed a young man who had just arrived from another
village. The two had never seen each other before.