By Claudio Hernandez (Na Ñuu Savi/ Mixtec)
Mamá wakes me up gently by whispering in my ear, “Claudio…Claudio. Ntakoo se’e. Ntasalistuku ra na ko’on. Sava’á cafe. Ntakoo ra ko’o cafe tatu kunu.” Get up my youngster. Prepare, and let’s go. I made espresso. Get up and drink espresso if you would like. She wakes me up like this for college or on Saturday mornings after I assist her and Papá at work within the strawberry fields. Generally I can hear her making tortillas and wrapping meals for everybody at dwelling round 4:30 or 5:00 a.m.
I slowly carry myself from the lounge sofa to brush my tooth and alter right into a pale lengthy sleeve button-up shirt and a worn out pair of denims. Within the kitchen, Mamá wraps two stacks of burritos made with half corn and half flour tortillas in aluminum foil. She locations one pile within the lunchbox we’re taking to work and the opposite in a blue tenate (palm leaf basket) from which my siblings Soledad, Diego, Crisoforo, and Abelardo will seize breakfast once they get up.
“Kunaa loncheko. Kiin in gorro chikau xinu. Na ntasama ra na ko’on. Tsa nchatu paku ini carru,” she says. Take our lunch. Take a hat to place in your head. I’m going to vary, then let’s go. Your dad is already ready within the automobile. She retains clear hats collectively however not at all times in the identical place, so I scan round the lounge till I discover a set of stacked caps on the leisure system subsequent to the altar. I take one with a colour that matches my shirt, seize the lunchbox, and head to the door, the place I placed on a pair of previous trainers. Exterior, the sky is a darkish blue gradient lighting the trail of the solar because it rises from the east. The neighbors might be heard stepping out of their houses, shutting their doorways, and heading into their vehicles as they put together for work at one of many fruit or vegetable fields surrounding Santa Maria.
Papá sits within the automobile ready for Mamá to inform him it’s time to go. I step into the backseat with our lunchbox as he’s sipping espresso. “A va’ani ni kixu?” he asks me. Did you sleep good? To which I reply, “Va’ani nikixiyu.” I slept nicely. Papá repeats his query; I lean in and reply louder. He had a tumor in his left ear that impacted his listening to. Even with a listening to help, he can’t at all times hear. Mamá opens the passenger aspect door and adjustments into her footwear within the automobile. “Ntatuun carru,” she tells Papá. Begin the automobile. He turns the ignition, the radio begins to play banda music, and all of us click on on our seatbelts as Papá makes his approach west. I lean my head again to attempt to sleep the 20-minute trip down Most important Avenue to the dust pathway that can finally take us to the plot of land owned by El Jefe.
Nchee nchu’a ña sachon nu fil. Working within the fields is tough. The primary time Mamá and Papá took me to work with them was as a consequence of misusing their telephone and elevating their telephone invoice. By taking me to work with them within the fields, or nu fil, Mamá and Papá wished me to consider their laborious labor to earn cash. Finally, my siblings and I began to go together with Mamá and Papá as a result of they started to pay us to assist them enhance the variety of strawberry containers they may harvest and since the additional assist eases the ache on their backs. Chilly, scorching, and wet days nu fil are the toughest to work by way of. On chilly mornings, the sunshine of the solar feels just like the comforting heat of a blanket slowly being draped onto fieldworkers with numb fingers, toes, and faces. Throughout scorching days, generally I squeeze a strawberry in my hand so its juices will make it simpler to catch the coolness of a stray breeze. Staff die from the warmth in locations throughout agricultural California the place the climate is excessive and the businesses they work for neglect to offer water, breaks, or shade. When it rains, farmworkers get caught within the mud between surcos (crop rows) or should maneuver across the mud as they harvest, including to the bodily calls for of their labor.
Between rows. Ma’in yuku
Everybody pushes ahead regardless of the chilly, warmth, and rain. Mamá will generally chat with relations working within the row subsequent to her in Tu’un Savi (Language of the Rain), a language with greater than 80 variants spoken by Na Ñuu Savi (Folks of the Area of the Rain, Mixtec) in elements of the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero. She’s realized a number of different variants of Tu’un Savi by choosing up on the slight variations of audio system from different communities round her. Different employees inform one another jokes or carry transportable radios tuned into the native Spanish music station to go the time or for motivation. Some take heed to chilenas (band music from Ñuu Savi, The Area of the Rain) broadcast by way of La Hora Mixteca on Radio Bilingue.
After we arrive on the strawberry fields owned by El Jefe, Mamá pulls out two bandanas. She makes use of one to cowl her nostril and mouth, and the opposite to cowl the highest of her head and preserve the opposite bandana secured. All girls farmworkers cowl their faces this option to forestall them from inhaling mud and chemical compounds and to guard themselves from solar harm. She places a hat over the bandana on her head to finish her uniform.
Mamá harvesting strawberries left on the finish of the season that will probably be distributed as market strawberries. Staka Má fresa ña ni ntoo ta ntsinu temporada (yoo tsio) ti. Ku nku’unti nu marketa.
By the window, I can see the supervisor pull into a mud path on the finish of the surcos with a big truck carrying massive plastic containers used in the course of the cannery season. The strawberry season begins round February and lasts till about August. Market season occurs within the first half of the strawberry season; these are the strawberries you discover in small plastic containers on the grocery retailer. Cannery season is from mid-Could to the top of the strawberry season, when strawberries are harvested with out the stem as a result of they are going to be utilized in canned merchandise. Cannery strawberries are harvested utilizing a hoop with a pointy finish worn on the thumb to chop the entire stem from a strawberry. Papá mounted one up for me so it would slot in my skinny thumb. I fidget with it and look outdoors whereas Mamá places on a pair of trainers lined in dust from work.
About 15-20 vehicles are parked alongside the principle dust street. Only a few of them have just one passenger since many farmworkers carpool to economize. Some employees are nonetheless preparing, like Mamá, whereas others are already strolling towards the big truck carrying with them carritos, small carts with one entrance wheel. “Na ko’on vari tsa nikitsána,” she says. Let’s go, they’re already beginning. Mamá and Papá step out to seize their carritos. I don’t have one since I solely work with them about as soon as every week. We be a part of everybody, most of us carrying a hat, a hooded long-sleeve sweater with a button-up shirt beneath, a worn pair of denims, and footwear with dust on them.
After grabbing a plastic container from the truck and a punch card, Mamá and Papá decide a surco proper subsequent to one another. I be a part of them in Mamá’s surco after placing our lunch down on the again of one other truck connected to transportable restrooms. Mamá and Papá will begin on the finish closest to the truck, and I begin furthest away so I can carry their containers as I fill mine up and take them all the way down to the truck. In addition they harvest the strawberries I miss as they transfer up. By the top of the day, someday between 3:00-5:00 p.m., they’ll each remind me, “Va’a nchu’a ntoo satá ta chincheuyu ni se’e.” My again feels relieved while you assist us, my youngster.
— Claudio Hernandez (Na Ñuu Savi/Mixtec) is a 2022-2023 Cultural Survival Author in Residence.
Prime picture: Strawberry shrubs. Kue tu fresa.
