Unexpected

I seriously need to realise that I can never plan things here. No day ever goes to plan. I had a whole “to-do” list for Thursday and I think I have only ticked off one thing. Although it leads to an exciting day, never knowing what might happen next, sometimes it is annoying to not feel you have achieved all you want to do. Today I have had some good chats with people that I did not expect. That was really nice. However, one chat in particular has stayed in my mind. Learning more and more of Laura Flores really touches my heart. Today I learnt a bit more about a family who live there. 

Laura Flores. Washing hanging on barbed wire, tin roofs,
plastic sheeting roofs, concrete walls, no running water,
no where to put your rubbish.

The mother, who is no longer with her partner, has 4 children. They live together in a “house”. I’m not sure if you can call it a house. What is a house? Is a house a place with 4 concrete walls, a plastic tarpaulin roof, which only stretches over your sleeping area? There is no-where to cook, no running water, no toilet, no-where to put the rubbish. Visible fumes rise from the rotting rubbish. The mum is sick. Not surprising. The mum can‘t work because who would look after the children. I do not know all the details about the family. I do not know for how long they have lived like this. I do not know how they ended up in Laura Flores or if they have always lived there. I do not know if the children will ever get out of Laura Flores. I might have some of the details wrong. But what I do know is that it is not right that people have to live like that. With the increasing amounts of daily rain and wind, the “roof” on this “house” will not last long.