SirensAndLights.org
Title
Sirens and Lights
Description
Excerpted from the website:
- Another day, another clinic. I migrate to the “pharmacy” after lunch to help dispense medications. We’re moving at a frantic pace, overwhelmed by the number of patients. I rush around gathering medications and dash back over to the table to provide instructions to the woman in front of me, who is looking at me expectantly from under her red hat, two long black braids trailed out over the shawl on her shoulders. She’s been waiting patiently despite her old age, and I feel a little guilty for that. My gaze connect with her deep brown eyes, nested in beds of creased bronze skin, and I launch into my explanations, adding warnings in the hopes of making this safe. The woman nods along, braids bouncing, listening intently. Finally at the last medication, which I’ve put off because of the complexity of the instructions, I interrupt myself to ask the woman if she’s able to read the written instructions on the box. Those brown eyes examine at the instructions, and then she looks up at me, saying in a slow and honest voice, “Well, senorita, I don’t know how to read. And I also don’t know Spanish.” I’m speechless for a moment, as the recognition of her Quechua background strikes me.
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