Striving and Surviving by Leah Schmalzbauer

Author:Leah Schmalzbauer [Schmalzbauer, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General, Discrimination, Ethnic Studies, American, Hispanic American Studies
ISBN: 9781135498245
Google: _tZEAQAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 871979
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

A Week in the Life

Elena is typical of the Honduran women I met in Chelsea. She is forty-three years old, married, and a mother of six. Her two youngest children, ages twelve and sixteen, live in Honduras with her mother, while her four oldest children are now with her. Elena has been in the United States since 1992, and has not seen her youngest children since she left Honduras. She is undocumented and currently works in a factory packing cartons for $6.75 an hour. She struggles with depression; depression that she blames on exhaustion and the debilitating sadness of being away from her youngest children.

Elena’s life follows a tiring schedule of factory work and carework. She wakes up every week day morning at 4:30 am. By 6am she has arrived at the temporary agency from which she leaves for her day’s work assignment. She works from 8am to 4:30pm with a half hour break for lunch. She arrives home a few minutes before 6pm, and has dinner ready by 6:45pm. By 7:30pm her family has finished eating and she has cleaned the kitchen. By 8pm Elena is sound asleep. At 4:30am the alarm goes off again.

Saturday breaks Elena’s weekly routine, as she doesn’t have to report to “work.” Still, there is plenty of other work to be done. She wakes at 8am and launches into a day of housework whose only interruption is a trip to Western Union to send $100 to her family in Honduras. Saturday night Elena looks after her grandson. He is a feisty, energetic two-year old. Although she tries to watch television while looking after him, it proves difficult. 8pm is bedtime. Sunday resembles Saturday with more housework, laundry, babysitting, and a few breaks for meals and television. Sunday night Elena tries to relax and prepare for the busy week ahead.

Paulo is also in his early forties. He is married and has three children. Unlike Elena, he has only been in the United States for four years, and he is alone. His children are in Honduras with his wife, and he lives in an apartment in Chelsea with four other Central Americans. Paulo works the night shift as a janitor for a large Boston university. Like Elena, he struggles with depression emanating from loneliness and frustration. He does not mind his work really, although he thinks he deserves a better salary and he would prefer working in the day. But he is tormented by homesickness. He relies on frequent phone calls home to sustain his strength and spirit.

Paulo’s schedule runs opposite to the traditional nine to five workday. At 4pm he awakes and prepares to start his day. At 6pm he leaves the house en route to his daily AA meetings, which normally run from 7–9pm. From there he commutes one hour to work. Work begins at 10pm sharp and doesn’t end until 6am. On most days Paulo is home by 7am, but there are days when he must stay and work until 11am. Although tired, he would never turn down the extra hours.

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