Day 9

Started the day working with my friend Andres Gonzalez on his project, collecting an oral history of Chacraseca. Spent about three hours transcribing my interview of 70-year-old Dona Mercedes, who's worked the fields her whole life and lamented that she never got a chance to learn how to sign her name. "You live in a glorious time," she says she tells her children, "because you can enjoy an education."

Also participated in meetings with two Sonador gaurdians who, for different reasons, moved their kids to different schools and lost contact with our coordinators, effectively removing their kids from the program. Katherine here is one of the kids involved, but her mom reconsidered the decision. In the meeting we asked her to make the simple committments our program requires in exchange for the benefits of additional tutoring and enrichment, school supplies, and community support--and she agreed. We require only that guardians ensure the Sonador's school attendance and participate in meetings.