My name is Sandra. I am 29 years old. My oldest son is 8, my middle son is 5, and my youngest daughter is 3.
Their father has gone to cut sugar cane for so many years. He goes every year... Ever since he was 18 years old he went to the treche (sugar fields). There is no work around here. And so he goes…
In order to get there from here, if he were to leave today at 11am, he would arrive there tomorrow at night. When they arrive there it’s dark.
I guess the advantage to him working so far away is that he is making money, right? During the harvest at least we can depend on him making money. He is there working for at least 6 months and every month he earns money…What he earns is enough to by something for the house, a chair, or something that we need, you know? He goes because here there is no way to earn enough to buy these things. The money that you earn here doesn’t buy enough food for us…
When one child becomes ill it is really difficult to be home alone. All of the responsibilities fall on the backs of us women who stay behind with our families…We have to be both the mother and the father. The fathers are there, in São Paulo and they don’t know a thing that is happening here. [My husband] sends money and that is great, but I have to resolve everything here alone. I have to take the kids to the doctor alone. I have to be alone at home with the three kids. I am alone, alone with god, I guess…
Sometimes when my children are acting mischievous and I yell at them, they call out for their father. This is one of the things that is most upsetting for me. They tell me that they are running away to São Paulo to be with their father…
When we get word that he called we all race to my sister-in-law’s home where they have a landline to be the first to get to talk. I am never able to really get to talk to my husband seriously because they are always pulling the phone out of my hands so that they might get a chance to talk more. You see, this is really tough…
When he is there, we wait, thinking about him coming home soon…But when he arrives it is joyful…but it is also sad because we know that he has to leave again. When he is about to leave, we usually get the kids out of the house so that they won’t see him leaving. If they see him leave they would want to leave along with him. Sometimes my children even pack their bags when they see him packing his so that they can go with him…
When he arrives the kids are fearful. He tries to hug them and they run away. The youngest one, Bia, took at least one week to let him put her on his lap. When he tries to give them a kiss, it is forced. It takes a long time for the kids to get close to him. It seems to be a kind of fear or embarrassment…
I want my children to study so that they can have a good profession and not suffer in the same way that my husband does. If they have education, they could find dignified work so that they don’t have to go every year to cut sugar cane…I don’t want them to become the same as him, no. I don’t want them to have to go far away from their families to make money. I want them to be able to stay here. These are my hopes for the future of my children.
