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A clothesline full of clothes gently rocked from the wind. One by one, Maria Elena took the laundry off the line. She folded the shirts and pants, gathered them up and walked toward their house: a small dwelling made with wooden sticks, holding up a tattered tin roof. The sides are open and the flooring was dirt. Maria Elena walked in and placed the pile of clothes carefully on the floor. There was nowhere else to place them. Despite the picturesque scenery surrounding her home, gloom


brewed in Maria Elena’s heart. Her husband had a steady job in construction, but he struggled with an alcohol problem, often exchanging a workday for a drinking binge. To help financially, Maria Elena cleaned houses and even managed to buy a piglet with hopes they could raise him to adulthood and sell him at the market. Still, they struggled to pay rent and often went to bed hungry. At night with her family huddled close under their small dwelling, Maria Elena would look up at the dark sky filtered with bright stars and petition God for help, always ending with the same request – a home for her family.


Sometimes, she mumbled her prayers aloud. One time, her BELOW: To help financially, Maria Elena cleaned homes and bought a piglet to raise to adulthood and sell at the market.


Spring 2016 • BUCKNER TODAY 17


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