Spotlight

 

Andrés, the “heart of the house”

Andrés Mesinas Cruz has been working with Gary for 11 years—ever since he was 18. His title at the Learning Center these days is House Manager and Cook, but those cold words don’t begin to express the warmth of spirit Andrés brings to the Center—nor the range of contributions he makes there. We asked him to jot down some of what he does during a typical work week nowadays.

 

“I wake up at 7:30 in the morning,” Andrés begins. “First, I go into the bathroom and put myself together. I chat a little with my wife, Lupe, about what she’s going to do during the day. I leave the house at 8:10 and walk about four blocks to catch my bus to my English class. I study English one hour a day, Monday through Friday, starting at 9:10.”

 

The English classes are paying off. Andrés is on his way to fluency. Fortunately, the school is close to the Learning Center, where he arrives by 10:30. There, he checks in with Gary and sits down to plan his menus for the next three days. Then it’s off in the CRV to go shopping. Woody goes, too. He’s the Center’s Shepherd-mix, mastiff-sized, timidly ferocious guardian and mascot. He loves these outings and resents being left behind.

 

The shopping is a time-consuming process that can take Andrés to any one of three markets, depending on the prices and freshness of the produce. He’s a careful shopper, preferring a small market he knows where food iis cheaper, but he cases the stalls of the large markets for deals on harder-to-find items like fresh, pasteurized cheese, yogurt, soy products and various seeds for making granola. And peanuts for making a Center staple: homemade peanut butter. Fridays take him to the organic market, El Pochote, some distance away, where he picks up the center’s box of fresh organic vegetables from Valy of Arbol de la Vida Organic Community Garden - the best lettuce, kale, spinach and other salad makings. On most shopping days, it’s around 11:30 by the time he gets back to the Center to wash what he’s bought, crank up the cooking, and take a moment to make himself some breakfast.

 

Andrés’ skills in the kitchen come partly from his mother, partly from his wife, and partly from watching Gary’s previous cook at work. It all came naturally to him; from the start, he found feeding others was both a satisfaction and a joy. All the same, he never thought he’d be spending as much time as he does in a kitchen, especially one where the numbers of mouths to be fed and the hours of mealtimes are as unpredictable as they are at the Center. But as anyone there can tell you, if someone’s hungry, Andrés has something for them to eat.

 

“Tuesdays and Fridays are my busiest days because of the shopping,” Andrés notes. “I usually have a little more time Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and that’s when I can fix things that need fixing in Gary’s part of the house or work in the garden.” Andrés also supervises the center’s Room Cleaner/Gardener, Geraldo, who also helps wash dishes and do other chores around the kitchen. When the day’s work is done, Andrés takes a short break and then turns to his English homework for the next day. “And after that’s done,” he somewhat sheepishly admits, “maybe a little television.”

 

And those unaccounted-for Mondays?

“I work at the Center every other Monday,” Andrés explains. “The Mondays I’m at the Center, I’m busy with general repair work on the house, cleaning the upstairs apartment, cleaning out the storerooms and such. And I give a hand to the tutors and students when they need it, painting the study areas, going shopping for things they need, or helping out with their special activities. On the Mondays when I’m not at the Center,” Andrés continues, “I take the day off.” He laughs. “That means taking care of my own house.” It also means having some extra time, besides chore-laden Sundays, to spend with Lupe and Willy, their 11-year-old son.

 

And then there’s the after-hours, which offer a chance to earn a little extra money. Making ends meet is a problem for the majority of Oaxacans, and friends of the Learning Center are encouraged to turn to its staff and students for helpers. “Our students get their tutoring for free, but they’re not freeloaders,” Gary emphasizes. “They’re eager to pull their weight, doing work here at the Center or elsewhere.” For Andrés, this has meant valuable additional income doing painting, plumbing, electrical installation and repair, and yard work. Making the most of any opportunity, he will sometimes leave the Center at around five and not get home until nine or ten at night. That can mean the busses have stopped running, and he’ll be faced with a long walk back to his family, across the distant river and up the steep slopes beneath Monte Alban.

 

“So that’s my week,” he concludes. “That’s all.”

 

“That’s not all!” Gary is quick to contradict. “What Andrés doesn’t say, of course, is that he provides a solid and continuing warmth to all his contacts at the Center. Or that he reaches out to everyone in a consistently positive, light-hearted way. Or that he is always there with encouragement for students who are struggling. Or that he’s an excellent problem solver, no matter what the problem is. Andrés understands the Center’s philosophy and objectives completely. He even recruits young people in need of help in his neighborhood to come study with us. Andrés feeds us in many different ways.”

 

As Gary likes to put it: “Andrés may be my right hand, but he’s the heart of the house.”