Allow me to introduce myself. I am Candy Rodriguez, wife of 14 years, mom of 4 homeschooled kids, and full-time student at WGU; working on a BA in Information Technology. I’ve been studying for about 18 months, and progress has been slow, but steady. I really appreciate my mentor who supports me and helps out with those “stupid questions” that so often come up.
I wish I could say that I manage my schooling and the home-schooling of my kids with ease and organization. Honestly, I study when I can. The kids have to come first. Thankfully, the kids go down early at night, and I am able to connect to the internet easier then as well, so I usually squeeze in my studies between 8pm-12am. It is impossible for me to use any online running scripts or applets to study by, since my dial-up is so slow. So, I am using the books in 24/7 to study for my exams.
I currently live in a small mountain village in Central Mexico. My home could accurately be called an adobe hut. I have electricity and sporadic running water. I have phone service and dial-up internet service. I live with my 80 year-old father-in-law, who had never seen a computer or half of my children until we arrived in November. We decided to move here so that we could live a little more simply, and economically. The car trip from Alaska took us nearly two weeks, and was quite eventful. When we arrived, there were major improvements to make before we could settle down, such as running water and phone service. My husband returned to work in Alaska just ten days after we arrived. I haven’t seen him since. He has had to remain there working to pay for the reparations to the house and for our daily maintenance. So much for things being more economical.
At the first of the year, we became the central focus of family politics and drama, as one of my brothers-in-law assumed his father’s property belonged to him, and we were, I guess, in his way. After securing another home to live in and packing my things, my father-in-law solved the problem by giving our family a portion of his property that had been used as a horse corral and barn. At the request of all concerned, I returned and commenced converting this place that I had been given into a home.
I am happy to say that the reader need not be too concerned, for now I have a safe place for my children and I to live, and they enjoyed cleaning and building their new home. Walls were put up between us and those who cared not to look at us, and we ended up improving this home as well. We installed water lines, sewer lines, and a kitchen sink, (Yay!). We cleaned out the barn and painted it, we painted everything really. The corral was raked and made level, and the rolls of turf come in next week to be placed on top of the “fertilizer”. Three kittens were secured for the rat problem, and they serve well in their positions as (very cute) “pest-control experts”. All of this has gone on in the past five weeks since I came back from term break and re-commenced my studies at WGU.
The people here are very friendly, (with the exception of my brother-in-law, of course) and are very welcoming to us outsiders and our strange ways. I have spent the past three months getting to know my husband’s extended family. As I meet and talk with all of these cousins and aunties, I am appalled that the vast majority of them cannot read or write in their own language. School is not mandatory here, and in some circles, even discouraged for girls and young ladies. A large percentage of males cannot read as well. Many do not know how to drive a vehicle, (which suits me fine if they cannot read the road signs).
I have stayed up many a night thinking about this situation, thinking about how I may be of service to these sweet people whom I now think of as family. I intend first, to finish my degree, then open a cyber-café so I can introduce people to the internet. I plan to start with a dozen PCs and charge 10 pesos, ($0.75us) per hour of internet use. I will have a large class room adjacent to the PCs so that I may teach reading and writing classes, free to the public. I will then include English classes and “get to know your PC” classes, for which I will charge a nominal fee. I also intend to have a PC repair shop in the back, to provide a little more income. I will take on a new young apprentice every year, so I might share my knowledge with others, that they might be able to earn more as adults.
I know that my goals are lofty, but I believe I can accomplish them if I remain diligent. My recent trials and remodeling projects have taught me to be patient, to see how a project will look when it is accomplished, and to not give up when the going gets tough. I can foresee that I’ll need to remember these lessons while working towards my new goals. Should my plans for the future come to fruition, I shall be all the more grateful to WGU and its supportive staff and students for all of their help. Maybe someday I’ll be able to return the favor.
Very Sincerely,
Candy Rodriguez
