Sienna

Sienna, my 8 month Pit Bull Terrier baby. Pictures from the past week.....

More Mexico

Oaxaca, Mexico

So, I went to Mexico, Dec. 28, 2008- Jan. 11, 2009, as planned and was psyched to start editing down the pictures I took while away...... but I came back to my mac not working.... so a few weeks later and $120 more in debt I've started.

I photographed the same family as last year, Curillo, the father, and his 10 children.

Collette 4

Christopher 7

Rosie Isella 9

Quaceme 12

Gabriella 15

Paco 17

Anjel 20

Heranimo 22

Paullina 23

Santa Maria 25

Curillo's wife died due to complications from giving birth to their youngest daughter four years ago because of this Collette lives with Santa Maria, who lives with her husband in the village. Paullina, the 2nd oldest daughter, also lives outside of Curillo's house, either married or working for another family. So in total living in a 4 room shack, with one room being strictly for food preparation, eight people sleep between 3 rooms and five old mattresses on dirt floors with no sheets/blankets, running water, and no more than enough electricity to power a small refrigerator, TV, & hotplate. 

Due to the worlds current economic situation what I thought was poverty last year while visiting was nothing compared to this year.  In the past Curillo and the oldest boys would collect scrap metal/ wood for burning and carving, and were the village butchers, for lack of a better term, killing the livestock and preparing it for celebrations and fiestas which are common during this time of year.  

As he explained to me, with less money coming in on all socioeconomic levels the village celebrations for Christmas, New Years, and the entire month of January (day of the 3 kings) which is the largest religious month of the year were cut down to almost nothing providing no jobs as expected in past years.  Because of this Gabriella was sent to work for one of her Aunts, caring for children, cooking, and cleaning clothes which provides her with a place to sleep and three meals a day.  Heronimo, Paco, y Anjel left the house each morning at dawn and spent the majority of their day at the scrap yard trying to make money.  As for the youngest ones, Quaceme was taught how to kill chickens and do the cutting/ preparation of Chickens/Cows/ Pigs over the past year and I was actually allowed to accompany them to one of the meat preparations which involved a Cow, a Pig and sesenta pollos (60 chickens).  Besides going to school, Rosi y Christo go to their other Aunts house each day to work and in return she provides them with new clean clothes, baths, and 3 meals a day.... which is a godsend from growing up with one pair of shoes each and  2 possibly 3 different sets of clothes.  

I admire Curillo for everything he has done for his children, as a widower he could have abandoned them 4 years ago and he would not have kill himself working to support his large family, many children in Mexico are homeless and abandoned each day.  Staying with him and his family is the greatest learning experience I have had and probably will ever have.  

This is Curillo's family.