A Mother’s Thanks

I know you can’t understand her. If it helps, I can’t either. Candalaria speaks a dialect that I will never master, but thankfully our Guatemalan facilitators speak it fluently.
So you will have to trust me when I tell you that she is saying “thank you.” She is expressing her gratitude for your concern, for helping us help her.
I love this particular dialect. It is spoken softly, and when we are in a room of women who are speaking this language, it feels like a soft flow of warm water, easing through the room without sharp edges, smoothing everything in its path. There is another language women speak, a universal communication done with eye contact, physical touch and subtle gestures. We learn early to read these signs, they keep us safe in uncertain circumstances.