Tale of Two Tragedies

The weekend was incredibly quiet until late Sunday night. I received the first call at 11:03 pm. The host father of one of my students had died earlier in the day, and while the family was at the funeral home, their house had been robbed of everything that wasn't nailed down and a few things that were actually nailed down. My student had been away for the weekend and had just gotten home. She was devastated as she felt part of the family. She was also upset because her laptop, study visa and passport were among the items stolen. She was even more upset because of the damage this incident would do to the already damaged reputation of Mexico in the eyes of the US. I settled her in to the Central House for the night and immediately started gathering the information needed to obtain a new passport and visa as she leaves on Sunday, May 8.

As my head was spinning with the huge task ahead of getting all of the paperwork in order before her departure, I received a second phone call at about 12:15 am from one of our homestay "mothers." The mother of her student had been found dead at 11:30 pm! The poor woman had committed suicide. As I headed to her house, the word was going out among students. They organized themselves to hold a vigil with the student while I worked to get her on the first plane out of Merida, to pack her things, and to help her simply put one foot in front of the other.

Luckily, there was a seat available on the earliest flight to the US, and the student arrived home at 2:00 this afternoon. Makes one count one's blessings, doesn't it?