I’m 35. Well apart from taking care of my 4 children I don’t do anything else. (10-8.7-3 age of children)
Well, I do it as to help my family as nobody works in my house, my Mario was fired, he works in construction, (textual) and the bread we eat is free, I get what I spend I have bread and other things that are missing At home I eat fruit and vegetables, and how expensive are you, you who help me in the common pot, which helps me a lot and I have been able to kill my hunger. We did not know with Carlos what we were going to do and you showed up giving away masks and invited us to the common pot… A blessing.
I did not know anything but you have opened my eyes, I did not know that this type of work existed in the house, I told my husband and she told me I was crazy. That he had never heard this. Today I feel that I am someone, I also know that it is an obligation to take care of my family, but a worker I did not know it, I still have problems at home when I go to the pot, she asks me what time I am going to arrive, if other women cannot go and because I have to go.
I told him that I am not going to stop going because he is a grateful evil, since I started to help, I feel that I am another person, with you I can talk about everything and I do not have to shut up, and the help that you give me it is very important to me… I also dare to speak in public, I never did before.
Excuse me, I can ask you how is the relationship with your partner, and that of your children, but if you do not want to tell, do not do it, this is within the framework of the respect that as women we must have.
I actually am ashamed, but I dare. Since Carlos doesn’t have a job, he goes around angry all day and yells at the children and me all day, he goes out into the street, he doesn’t hit me but he scares me. When I go to the pot for me it is an escape to leave the house, he tells me I look like a nanny taking care of children as if they were not his children. That thing that I leave everything behind, and when I arrive it is all messy, but I don’t complain, because I am happy to be able to help other families like mine. I also took my neighbor, Flaca Susy, and she is also happy with the help they give us. I learned a word that is difficult for me to pronounce sodality, (textual) unity and I am another person. Now I know that I am a worker and you have taught me that I have rights (she cries) and that my children will not go through what I have gone through. But when he wants to sleep with me, he makes himself look cute, the other day I told him I’m tired, he got angry, I thought he was going to be something to me, but he held on, the next day he told me that I was subversive. But she walked all day soft and I did not scream like crazy until she helped me knead.
I never thought that I could connect with my cell phone to an assembly of women like me, nobody laughs at you if you don’t know how to speak, I learned what you told me and I will never forget “I am a Working Woman and I have rights” to me. daughter, especially her (10) who must not allow anyone to yell at her and must be respected.
Yes, I do, because I have already learned that I am a very special different woman, that nobody is the same as another, that if we put all our collective knowledge as we were taught, we will be women who stand with dignity. I also learned that with you, I just want to thank what you do for the poorest. God take care of them.
My experience? Do you think it works? But if it works for others, give it a try. Also, no one had asked me how I am, no one was interested, no one had worried, it makes me feel important. I don’t know how they do it to make us feel so good. With you cooking now until I sing, and in my house the same. Thank you, thank you (cries)
I work at the free fair in Covarrubias, (fair in the El Bosque Commune) I get in line and they tell me anger, I sell everything they give me, clothes, fancy shoes that are in good condition. I have two children, one of seven and my daughter of four, I am a single mother, I live close to my aunt’s house, when I got together to live with Manolo I was 22 years old and he began to misbehave he came when he wanted that, I was angry; My family my mom and dad threw me out on the street, my aunt welcomed me, I was pregnant with Danielito, but they only welcomed me, then everything began to change, Manolo began to move away from me and when my child was born I was alone, my Aunt seven she is my real mother, she helped me until today, there I started working at the fair, the Férianos are good honda they helped me when they found out I was alone and pregnant, they gave me everything for my baby, when he was born He had a car, even his crib, all given second-hand but beautiful. They went to see me at the hospital I had a complicated delivery I had a month in the hospital. My white blood cells failed me, that’s what they told me. Manolo appeared when Dani was four months old. He came back and told me that he had been imprisoned, they had arrested him for drugs, he looked skinny, he made shit and he looked for me, at first I rejected him but he went to the fair to help me, in the Good time I went to the fair with my son, he grew up there, I was afraid to leave him, and the child lived paid to the tit. Thus he began to walk among all the showmen. With Manolo we continued to play, he would come and go, he would disappear, I think I got used to this life so it took three years until I got pregnant with my daughter, her name is Cherazade, I liked that name, I watched a Turkish comedy on television and she She was so pretty that when she was born I saw her so pretty I gave her that name. I’m going to cut Manolo short, they killed him with a bullet in a fight for drugs so I was left alone, with my two children and I just had to put a tougher shoulder. La Cherita just like Dany raised her at the fair when it was long ago It was cold, or it rained, my aunt took care of them, she forgave me for my second screw-up, but I went to the office and the treatment failed (intrauterine) and I came to realize that I was pregnant when I had three months to do. My children are my great treasures. I get the crest working, they don’t lack anything. Everything starts to get complicated when my aunt gets sick, she hit something on her head and I’m left with half of her bad body now she doesn’t understand much what she talks and it is hard for her to walk, she is single she never had children if my children are his whole life. She had been married to a paco culiao and receives a pension and has the house, she died of a heart attack but the paco was very dead. Now I take care of her and my children.
Everything was fairly fine until I arrived, the covi pandemic, the shitty government threw the soldiers out onto the streets and they wouldn’t let me work, whores didn’t know what to do, I always supported my family from day to day, I could never save money in a week we ate everything we had in store. I was still ashamed to go to the pot to order, but the goats were hungry, and so was my aunt. One day La Lucha brought me food and invited me to be noodles with fish sauce, it would be my hunger but I found them so delicious, and to screw it up I snatched it up and slept all afternoon, when I woke up everyone was sleeping. And I thought guatita filled with a happy heart, the Fight told me that the head of the pot had called you and told me that they had enrolled me in the pot so that I could go to look for food twice a week, but they also gave me bread as a gift , and when there was even fruit for the goats.
So I got to the pot, I went with my pot to find four servings, there was chicken with juice with rice, I had to carry a pot and a bag to bring the bread and another in case fruit or vegetables arrived, with the slice I have, it’s day They went to donate 30 kilos of milk, the boss told them she has two children give her milk, that day there was also yogurt, they gave me six.
She came so happy to my house, she looked like a bitch with two tails, when I received her I did not know what to say. If I thanked or hugged them, my eyes filled with tears and the boss hugged me and said we are class sisters, we do this together, and you are one of us, whore who said nice things to me I thought she was knew before. I went to my house I heated the chick a little more there my account that they had added two more portions. So save for the other one for the other day. I told Lucha what had happened to me, she told me that they were all good milk and when things arrived they distributed them according to the number of people she told me if I wanted to go cook with the women in the pot, I told her that I did not know how to cook, I ate pure junk at the fair and goats too, my aunt cooked because she cannot be without soup. I talked to my aunt and I told her that I wanted to go help, she was happy, the children are good with her, and they don’t get mad.
I got to the pot I felt like a cupuchenta, and afraid of how they were going to receive me, I arrived at 9/00 I went with the Fight. We did not even have a knot in the wadding, we arrived they introduced me to the other women, the boss handed me a hat, gloves, and a plastic apron, a mask, the first thing she told me, here we are all going to have breakfast, there was tea , coffee, milk, bread, cheese and ham. I had to leave the kitchen, that day I did not have bread for my people to have breakfast, I did not want them to see me crying, but the boss who caught them all came out, she asked me what was wrong, I told her, she did not say anything, I saw her come out when I arrive in ten minutes with cured bread, yogurt, sugar and tea and he sends me a shot to the house. She told me if you want to go back, cook again but you still come to get food, if you can’t come. You come on Friday I live 8 blocks from the pot, I went to leave things my aunt was up, I put the kettle on and she returned me to the pot. Have breakfast and get to work, that day they made charquicán, I began to peel potatoes, carrots, another washing the chard, another chopping onions. Others kneading, when one is idle going to make dumplings for bread is entertaining. Music is a separate story that day I sang, it has been so long since I did it. The pot is magic, my time flew by, I saw how the food was distributed, I filled my pot, with rations for two days they gave me two eggs for each one, I took the warm bread, there were many carrots and lettuces they gave me to take away .
One day the boss started talking about work at home, and unregulated, precarious work and she told me you are a worker who is in this condition, she speaks so beautifully, that today I am learning so many things that I did not know, I am grateful of the Fight that I would have led, but more grateful to the women, I believed that I was the only one who had problems, the chief put me in contact with the Office of the Woman of the Commune and now they are going to see my aunt at the home the doctor.
They made me the social protection card so I received a box of merchandise that the government gave away. I want to say that they have given me clothes, shoes for my children, even my aunt got her hands on it. I have never told this but they give me so much confidence, before reaching the pot I would go out to collect fruit and vegetables after the fair was collected so I lived for about a month. These pot mines are pure hearted. When they asked me if they could write this I said yes, because in this little time, which I have been with them, I feel that I have grown, as a woman, I value my family more and I know that there will always be someone who will reach out to you, without interest Although the boss told me that I have to join the organization. She doesn’t like being called boss, but I do it with affection, but also with admiration, and I’m the only one everyone calls her by name.
La Flaca Susy
I am one of those who constitute Newen Domo (Mapuche Women’s Force), I work with a car and sell tea, coffee, milo, sandwich, complete, I have a permit to sell that the municipality gave me, I belong to Newen Domo I am Mapuche with much honor, my whole family from father and mother. I have two children, one of 14 and my daughter of 16 I live with a man who is not Mapuche and the father of my children are Champurrios (They have Mapuche and Chilean huinca blood). He runs a small pet food business.
I live with my 88-year-old father, and my 22-year-old brother who is bedridden with a strange stomach disease that flushes everything he eats and almost lives in the hospital. My mother died 10 years ago, she was an alcoholic since I can remember I never saw her without a drink, I had to go out to look for her in the bars when she lived in the south, for this reason we came to Santiago, to separate her from her friends who drank with she. It was a bad decision; My mother began to escape, we looked for her when we found her, we took her home, but others we lost for weeks, coming to live on the streets. That’s how I grew up, with my brother who was born with this stomach deficiency, that’s how I became a woman. I finished my quarter and from there to work to help my father who worked all his life for my brother and me. With her I began to work in the car on the street, it was not bad for me, the work is hard, but you earn to live, not with luxuries but without great needs. Also I do not pay rent, the house belongs to my father, with my partner we pay all the expenses of the house. My two children study. I have never had a normal life. There are people who are born with a bit of bad luck.
The social outbreak as of October 18, 2019, I could not work anymore, my car is in the Plaza de Armas in San Bernardo, and every day there were protests, in this social outbreak I realized how blind I was, that I do not have Social security, without rights of any kind, that I am invisible as Paty says, I know that I am a worker, that I am not a businesswoman, as she wanted me to believe. The classes they have given us on home work, informal work, and precarious work are and go hand in hand with job instability. When they threw the soldiers into the streets, I was afraid, I did not experience the military dictatorship, it was very small, as we lived in the countryside, I did not realize what was happening. After my mother died, a cousin of hers told me that, my mother had been arrested in Villarrica, they found her drunk and she was missing for two weeks, they raped her and tortured her for sheer pleasure, she was never involved in anything in politics; The pacos voted for her in Carahue and she was wandering the streets like absent, until they found her, from then on, I never let my dad touch her again. I asked my dad if it was true, she answered me, don’t believe in weas. And that is the reason we came to Santiago, I have tried to find out but no one gave me more information today the cousin is also dead.
My life has not been easy I live with Marcos, he does not physically mistreat me, but he always tells me that I am useless, that nothing works for me, I was not young I met him at a party I like to dance he does not like; Every time someone invites me somewhere, I tell him I’m going out, I’ve caught him following me, if I have a beer he tells me you’re the same as your mother, today I understand that what he does with me is psychological intrafamily violence, the girls of the The organization has taught me what I am worth, that I have my hands and I know how to work and I will never starve.
The pot of dignity as I tell you, has made me believe, in people, I had never had friends, companions as I told you I take care of my father and my brother, I can’t always go to the pot of dignity, my job is Make sure by phone how many people come to look for food, I take care of writing down and sending the lists. I would like to go every day, but I can’t, I go like all people to look for my food, they taste so delicious, I know how they cook, even if it sounds romantic, they are made by lamnnien (sisters in Mapuche) with affection, love of the good of the heart, as I belong to Newen Domo, I am helping our association to be a union. It rains in the wet a month ago I found out that my 16-year-old daughter is pregnant, I took her to the office myself to get injections, when I realized that my daughter was no longer pregnant. I cannot console myself, I always speak to her the good, the bad, the responsibility with sex, she only told me what happens is that you do not trust me. My classmates found out from me, they forced me to go to the pot. It’s such a stormy day, for me. They consoled me and offered me their help, to see how I faced my situation, they all closed ranks with me. I value what happened so much, nobody gave me a recipe how to solve the problem, it is clear to me that what the stories of others do not work; you have to do your own experience. The only thing the father said is that you are responsible for what happens with your daughter, I think that day with all my sadness, I stopped and told her so it’s just my daughter and what the hell are you doing here, you can leave whenever you want , my son heard this discussion, and he hugged me he said, I am also just his son.
Today I was able to write more calmly, thanking all the women who fight for our rights, I am convinced that this pot of dignity did me good, I value myself more, I know that I am unique and unrepeatable as my friend taught me. She tells me that I have to learn, that I am a strong woman (I still don’t think so) that I have to stand up and not allow anyone to set foot on me.
Mariwhiueo, Mariwhiueo (A thousand times we will win).
My name is Sonia, I got to the pot, out of great necessity, I have four children, the oldest is 20 years old (unemployed) I had him as a single when I was 17 years old, the father was not a good man, I lived with him for three years until They took him prisoner, for robbery with intimidation, for two years I went to see him in jail. I found out one day when I was visiting that at night there was a fight and they killed her, I was left alone and first started working as a household consultant, but I couldn’t take my son, so if I started working alone I.That I never asked for anything. When you fall in love you ignore anything, maybe it was a lot of misunderstood pride of mine, but I already did.
Years later I met the father of my three children who are 8-6-men and 4 years old, who is a girl, I live today, with him, he works as a stockman in a supermarket, he earns the Minimum Income.
Years later I met the father of my three children who are 8-6-men and 4 years old, who is a girl, I live today, with him, he works as a stockman in a supermarket, he earns the Minimum Income.
I am a Mapuche woman, I work as much as possible to help my husband, with his salary we are not enough. Also, to feed my oldest son, and that no one takes what he eats in his face.
When I began to tell about what happened to me with my eldest son, that he drank, and used drugs, he would not let me sleep or his brothers, the companions of the pot told me to report him for domestic violence, they offered me help, with a psychologist, nobody restrained me after I told my sorrows I must say that I felt more relieved, first I am healed myself to help my son.
Our little pot has healed my soul, you know I feel that this group of women, especially Mrs. Paty (I told her that if she puts this, do not publish it) the psychologist has made me understand that I am a working woman, and all that I have achieved It is thanks to my hands and I learned that I not only help my husband, that I am a working woman, and today I look at myself differently, I had too low self-esteem, I even let them take me away. My husband when I decided to come to look for food, he told me that the neighbors are going to think that I am not capable, I told him that my children are not going to go hungry, one day they invited me to cook with them, and here I am we cook singing, I forget the sorrows, this pot has been my escape, with the pandemic I could not continue working and did not know what to do. I saw how other neighbors were hungry, I approached them and took them to the pot, I live in an apartment building on each floor six families live, at first I was the first today there are six apartments, they are so grateful, they bring bread Hot dough straight out of the oven, when we do well and at the fair they give us fruits and vegetables. They are distributed according to the number of people per house.
The pandemic has brought out the best in us, I never thought cooking for so many people had never been in a common pot. Today I know that everything is possible and as Mrs. Paty says
When they told us it was impossible we did it
Thank you for the opportunity and the help that you give to my soul.
I love you.
I have two children, an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, I met the lamnieg (Sisters in Mapuche) handing out masks, they came to my house and told me that they belonged to an organization of Mapuche women Newen Domo, they asked me how many people lived in my house (I rent in a house that has different midwaters, we live four families in total, we live 18 people, including children and older adults). We have a single bathroom for everyone, and without space as they say crowded, in the pandemic we realized our great poverty, because before it was not noticeable because we went to work and we were not locked up all day, I touch the bathroom, we had We have to make a meeting of all of us who live to occupy it, in each house we do our needs and go to the bathroom only to empty, to shower, each one carries a gallon of gas and we cannot take more than twenty minutes per family, I bathe the children every day in a fountain and then throw the water into the bathroom.
They gave me some masks, for everyone in my family and they told me that the pot was starting to work, even if my husband arrived he was unemployed so he stayed with the children while he went to cook. Pucha, what I learned, I only two years ago that I arrived in Santiago in the field is not cooked as in the city. I’m very embarrassed, so I helped out with what they asked me to do, I peel potatoes, wash vegetables, pick onions.
I knit on a loom, I spin natural wool, dye it with roots and leaves of native trees, I had no idea that it was artisan. I always thought that it was what I no longer touched, my husband sells them at work and I have my little plate and I also help in my house and I give the pleasure to my puppies, in sweets or any clothes they want, although they are small too they want the ones their school and garden peers have.
They gave me some masks, for everyone in my family and they told me that the pot was starting to work, even if my husband arrived he was unemployed so he stayed with the children while he went to cook. Pucha, what I learned, I only two years ago that I arrived in Santiago in the field is not cooked as in the city. I’m very embarrassed, so I helped out with what they asked me to do, I peel potatoes, wash vegetables, pick onions.
I knit on a loom, I spin natural wool, dye it with roots and leaves of native trees, I had no idea that it was artisan. I always thought that it was what I no longer touched, my husband sells them at work and I have my little plate and I also help in my house and I give the pleasure to my puppies, in sweets or any clothes they want, although they are small too they want the ones their school and garden peers have.
“Learn to not depend”, they taught me in the pot, to be a worker at home, when I heard this I realized that I am ignorant, I have worked in the fields since I was twelve, I think I was born on the legs of the loom, I did not I agree when it was the first time I started to weave, but I like it when I start a loom I fly away, I have never copied the drawings, I take them from my own piuke (heart) they are born to me the same as colors, I learned to collect roots and the exact color that each of them give.
When I said that I was ignorant, they asked me never to say that again, that the ancestral wisdom that I have and how my designs are born to me were from a true artist and artisan. Today I am an artisan and a working woman. As they noticed the eye, I am an artisan. I haven’t knitted anything for a long time, I don’t have money to buy wool and since you can’t travel due to the pandemic, I haven’t been able to travel to the south.
Well I go back to the pot, next to my lof two older adults live, they are brothers one of 80 and the young woman of 78, as the houses are so attached, one unintentionally listens to what they are talking about, I heard that Don Jaime told his sister that I was hungry and she tells him, we have nothing more than you. I was coming from the pot and since the portions are abundant I invite him to my food, the old men began to cry, they told me that they had only had tea for two days.
I come from the pot earlier because they vacate late around five o’clock and I can’t have the children until that time without eating, a short story I called to be able to register them, so that they could go find food, I told them what had happened with the grandparents, they went to my house that same day they talked with my neighbors and now all the families have food. They gathered us together in the patio and our boss (Mrs. Paty) spoke of shaking us from shame, that solidarity is not in the market, it is built with good living in community until they applauded her; I realized that I was the only one who was receiving food and ate every day. It is sad to tell this, as living so close we are so far away and we do not speak, that is called being screwed up in the head. As the people who live are older now they go to look for the 18 portions in a cart and it tastes good to know that everyone in the house is eating, they say they are going to make us an altar for being so good. Have I always wondered how the merchandise is obtained? One day I asked, they told me about the great tours that they take, letters, to the stores, to the fairgrounds, people who donate from a package of noodles to a package of salt; Since I have been going, I have never known that there is no need to make food, I only ask God to give us health, to move forward, I believe that we do not have a pandemic, because someone protects us. This is my little story, for the first time I am visible and I write May God bless you.
