Family Moab

Family Moab
In Arches National Park

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Certificate Day

Three inches of crisp white snow cover the slick streets and sidewalks this morning, but we were not awakened by a robo-call from the school district, so schedules proceed as normal. I'm glad about this, because I am headed back to the GEO / ICE Detention Center in Aurora today to teach the third of three classes in fables and writing. The female detainees that have attended my class (thirteen each of the first two days) have been a fun and enthusiastic audience. I conduct the class in English and Spanish, as I have more native Spanish speakers than English speakers. I don't ask their stories, but my imagination runs wild.

Consider the young woman who came to the first class and didn't say a word. When we passed out the fables on a handout she didn't take one, and when I asked about her language skills - in Spanish - another young woman leaned over and said, "she can't read or write in any language." Later I learned that the young woman was Mayan, that she had been in the detention center for a while struggling to communicate with anyone there. She had learned a few words of Spanish, but not enough to feel comfortable. Can you imagine living in a Mayan village in the highlands of Guatemala or southern Mexico, braving a dangerous journey to the U.S., and then finding yourself in jail with a crowd of other women who speak foreign languages? How isolating, uncertain, and scary that must be.

That's just one of the partial stories I've gathered. I hope the four ladies who attended both classes so far come to class today to achieve their certificate. It will supposedly help them to make a good impression with the judge when the case goes to court; a sign that they have worked hard to better themselves. If anything stops the ladies from coming today it will be a meeting with legal pro bono services, work duty, court itself, or deportation. Quite different from my experience, driving free and clear on a snowy day.

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