Fabiola was born in Yaptera 30 years ago and currently lives in the main square of town, near the house of her uncle and famous cumanana singer and afro-peruvian poet, Fernando Barranzuela lived. She is the mother of two children and her youngest, Baranzuela (3), will soon be a student at our most recently completed school.
For Fabiola, volunteers from All Hands and Hearts offered the town something invaluable – the schools are not only good for the students and parents, but for the community as a whole.
Like most young people in Yapatera, Fabiola left her hometown to pursue job opportunities in Lima when she was just 21 years old. Finding affordable and accessible housing in Lima was a huge problem for her and for other workers. Fabiola would spend nearly 4 hours daily commuting to and from work. Fabiola eventually left Lima to try working in Paita, a fishing town in northern Peru. There, she spent a season selling ‘anticuchos’, a meat dish sold on the streets. But the money was scarce. On a normal day, she would earn 4 dollars of profit and sometimes up to 12 dollars on a good weekend.
The stress of living and working far away from home eventually brought her back to Yapatera to live a more peaceful life with her family, and to offer a better environment for her children to grow up.
Life has not been easy for Fabiola coming from a rural place, being a woman, raising two children by herself, and being black in a country where Afro-Peruvians are a minority and there are still many places where racism is present. But these difficulties have shaped the spirit of a strong woman who today feels optimistic and full of energy for the future. Despite raising her children and caring for her grandparents, she still dedicates time to the collective good of her people and is the leader of a popular initiative in Yapatera formed by more than 40 women.
The mission of this collective is to cook every day and provide healthy meals to families or individuals in the community who cannot cook for themselves.
Nowadays, Fabiola lives with her grandparents, Augusto and María, “They raised me when I was a baby, they were like my parents, now that they are older I have to return the favor, that’s why I live with them. I would love to travel, to leave Yapatera, to know other places. But I love them and I feel that now they need me, both my grandparents and my children.”
Augusto is 81 years old and still goes to the countryside as do many elderly people in Yapatera to harvest mango, coffee and yuca. When the floods came in 2017, Fabiola and her grandparent had to build a wall at the entrance of her house to prevent water from entering. She remembers how her children were terrified of the non-stop lightening.
Fabiola has invited us to see her house and eat a ceviche, a typical Peruvian dish prepared with raw fish and lemon. Xiomara plays with her newborn dog.
“She always tries to help animals, she always plays at being a doctor and when we go to the medical center she watches everything and asks many things. I believe that when she grows up she will study something related to veterinary science or medicine. I really would like that for her.”
FOOTNOTES
Photo & Story Credit: Pablo Miranzo for All Hands and Hearts
