We summarize M's comments and will be providing a transcript soon.
M's sister lives in NYC and was very sick with COVID, but her sister didn't believe in COVID and instead thought she just had a bad flu. M described herself as “a fearful person” (yo soy muy miedosa), and she locked down in March as soon as she started hearing about protocols at her workplace (hand-washing, mask-wearing). She was worried that she would get COVID and wouldn’t be able to take care of her son. M commented on the support she received for her son – sanitary towels, wet wipes, diapers, and other child-related supplies – from AMOR between March and October. In October she was told that AMOR's funds had run out and shifted to look for other support services, such as covering rent costs.
M used to work 3 days/week at a Wendy's, but she got laid off in March 2020
and hasn't worked since then. Her son is immunocompromised, meaning she has been living inside the house in lockdown as much as possible. Her work life offered the potential of future support: her old boss told her she might be able to return to work in late spring/summer 1-2 days a week, 6 hours/day. Her son had to stay home from school until November, which was hard. Now he spends 2 afternoons a week in school, where he receives therapy (terapia).
During this time, M also became connected with a group of AMOR women, both workers and "helped" women (the phrase she used was: mujeres que trabajan y mujeres que son ayudadas). The group is called "mujeres guerreras," and they checked in on each other throughout the lockdown. When asked to reflect on the prior summer of Black uprisings throughout the nation, M answered the question in terms of her lived experiences with racism and xenophobia. She shared lived experiences with racism in the workplace: "exploitation is racism" ("explotación es racismo").
