Nov. 8, 2021: Culture within a Culture

Within Colombia there are several indigenous groups.  You are familiar with the Quechua Indians that Tom and Judy worked with in Peru.  That people group spreads throughout most of South America from Colombia to Chile.  Here in Medellin it is common to see barefooted Quechua “women” sitting in the street, spaced about every 30 feet or so, in more affluent areas with a child asleep or sucking at her breast, with an open cup at her side for money.  I say “women” for most of them are barely into their teens -12, 13, perhaps 14 with child.  They do not beg nor bother anyone.  I observe them daily and wonder:  how do they keep those children, from newborn to say 3, asleep all day?  Rarely do you see one awake.  Where do they go to the bathroom?  Is what they get in those cups worth sitting there all day?  Around 9:00 pm you will see them begin to gather into a group.  Sometime Quechua men will appear from nowhere, and they will all disappear.  This picture shows a typical scene.  There is a child spread across her lap.  Never do I see one without a child or two with her. 

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