IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH | Page 46

they told me she had died. It hit me
really bad and I left the hospital at my
own risk, with stiches. When I was here,
the Section Head came and asked me
about my husband, who was working.
He said he’d leave the citation for him to
go to the Unit the next day. I was not
doing well at all, and asked him to leave
it on the TV, but I forgot to give it to my
husband, and he just went to work the
next day. That night, the Section Head
came back with a policeman. They beat
my husband; I tried to explain that I had
lost my child and had forgotten to give
him the citation. I asked them to please
not take him because I was alone with
the children and had recently had
surgery. I raised my blouse so they could
see. They told me to stay out of it.
Santa’s husband was arrested as a
preemptive
social
dangerousness
measure, despite the fact he worked at
the Naval Hospital. She assures me that
he had committed no crime. Santa said
she received a citation six months later.
She was accused of contempt, for having
disrespected the police, for which she
served six months. When she got out on
parole, her mother had taken her
daughter to another daughter’s home,
Santa’s sister’s house, because she’d
been sleeping on the street.
Santa: But, it is a very small house, and
families get along best at a distance. But
when there are children… More over if
there are 12 people living in one place.

There’s no upstairs and downstairs.
There are 12 in one little space. You can
go to the Casablanca neighborhood. The
neighbors are there, and they can tell you
that this is all true. Some of them helped
my mother. She and I slept on the street,
at bus stops, in hallways. Once we even
got water dumped on us. Kirenia caught
a staph infection and was in the hospital
for four months. They didn’t think she’d
make it.

Albergue children
The neighbors made us a tiny room
Kirenia: My parents separated when I
was two; my mother got together with
my stepfather, my younger brother’s
father. My stepfather is white and his
family is very racist. They wanted
nothing to do with my mother. My
mother lived in Regla, but went to live
with him in Casablanca, where she built
a little wooden house next door to her
mother-in-law’s house. Yet, many of the
folks don’t own their homes there,
because it is an unhealthy location.
They’ve lived there for 20 or 30 years
without owning the homes.

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