Yesterday, I went out to a home for street couples to visit some kids I know there and to find out some information about one of the missing girls, whose boyfriend and son are still at the home. The last time I saw this girl was about 3 weeks ago when she showed up on the street, having escaped from the home because her boyfriend was strangling her. Nobody at the home had any information about where she might be, and in fact, they were all hoping that I had come with news.
I remember meeting two of the couples who are at the home back when they lived down by the bus terminal in the spring. They're older and really rough (seriously, they used to scare me), but I'm really happy that I'm becoming friends with them. I was talking with the girls and searching for some info about the 2 girls that I'm trying to locate. Thanks to all their experience on the streets, they were able to give me a few different locations on the south side of town where the girls might be. But they told me that I shouldn't go, especially at night, even though that would be the best time to find the girls. One girl said to watch out because there are rapists around there and that a guy tried to rape her one time not too long ago. Great... The girl's boyfriend and one of the women want to talk to the director of the home and see about getting out for the afternoon to go looking for the girl. If that gets worked out, then I'll tag along to some of these scarier places, but I'm not planning any solo rescue operations.
While we were talking about all that, I got a call from another girl on the street who I've bee helping for a few months. She was hysterical, because her boyfriend had just beaten the crap out of her. So I left the home and jumped on a bus back to the city. I got to the corner where all the kids were right in time to see a police SUV come speeding up and squeal to a stop. She had finally called the cops on her boyfriend, because it was a little different this time. He wasn't high or drunk when he beat her up; he was just mad. So he punched her in the face 4 or 5 times and broke her nose. Then, he kicked her in the back when she was down on the ground. Unfortunately, he escaped on a bus just a split second before the cops arrived.
The kids have had so many run-ins with the cops in the past few weeks, that I was immediately on edge. But thankfully, the two cops that showed up were only interested in helping the beat-up girl and didn't harass the kids for loitering on the bank lawn or having obviously concealed glue bottles. I rode in the back of the police SUV with her to the Family and Women Protection Brigade to file a denuncia (a police report that also serves as a restraining order) against her boyfriend, which I've been trying to get her to do for months.
Bolivia never ceases to amaze me, and this visit to the police station was no different. The building was dump built ages ago and never kept up, with sagging ceilings and creaking, loose floor boards. Florescent lights had been added at some point, and the walls were painted pastel pink and covered with dirty hand prints and yellowed signs. And the cherry-on-top was an old, empty pool in the courtyard/parking lot.
Before they would interview her, the police sent us out to buy a manilla file folder for the paperwork they were filling out. That's right. They don't provide file folders in Bolivia. Out by the front gate, we found a little tienda selling candy, coke, gum, and...manilla file folders.
So after she talked with the cops and filled out paperwork, I took her over the hospital to get looked at. We found out that the forensic doctor she needs to see, as per police orders, wasn't in, but the the doctors in the emergency room were able to give her a shot for the pain (after we went across the street to the pharmacy to buy the vile of pain medication).
So I still need to figure out how I'm going to get down to where the the 2 missing girls are. And in the meantime, I have to find a way to juggle all the craziness with the other girl and her abusive ex-boyfriend.
I'm planting some seeds in her head about relocating to Santa Cruz...
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