Between two worlds

Author: Lessy Gabriela Jakiwara Grández.

Nationality: Peruvian

Degree in Sociology

Diploma of Advanced Studies in Sociology of Public Opinion and Mass Culture

* Series: Stories about skilled immigration and foreign professional women

I got up in the morning and I went to my child's room; 10 months and medium, a beautiful baby  that filled my days of tiredness, love and joy. That day I went to work after a year: 16 weeks of maternity leave, several months more of leave of absence and a fundamental change in my life: being a mother. I ate breakfast quickly and nervously and as I walked briskly to the station to catch the train, I was frowning and with a heavy heart.

At home it was my child, my mother should have arrived the day before to take care of him, but due to administrative problems and setbacks she could only get to Madrid the next day, so I had to ask for help from my mother in law. My blood pressure rose at the thought that she was an old woman. I wondered: Will she be able to take good care of my child?, Will my child be OK?, What if he gets sick, what if my mother in law does not know to care? And if there's something wrong in my absence ?.What anxiety!. I was the one who had to cut the umbilical cord is not my baby. How difficult situation! ..

I boarded the train thinking only of my children and his welfare, I made the transfer from one train to another mechanically, because I knew the way perfectly, everything going on around me was irrelevant, I was alone with my thoughts, all the way I could not be quiet even though I tried.

Finally I arrived in San Sebastian de los Reyes, that long road and each time I walked away more than my son. I came to my workplace after ..... One hour and 45 minutes, everything was about the same, cubicles for each Call center operator, the same tasks and almost the same people, except some new workers required by the new campaigns. There was much work in the area of ​​telemarketing, because we were on holiday season. On one hand I felt some satisfaction to return to the workplace and get away from my home life, but on the other hand I was worried about leaving my son at home. However, I did not feel at ease, I could feel the stress that existed in that place, more clearly than before ... moodiness and tension felt in the environment.

In the rest of my day I called my mother in law
'Hello how are you? How is Fernandito?.
'All right, he's a little hot, I think he has a fever, but do not worry, okay, keep in calm.
Well, if the temperature rises you call me, okay?
-Okay she answered.
The hours passed and were nearing the end of my work day, the last break I called my mother in law again:
- What's up, how's the baby?
The temperature has increased and he vomited, he has 39.5º.
- Then ask permission and I go back home, I told her.
  And she answered: Okay.

The way back home was longer than the way up, my heart sank within me. When I left the train station, almost ran to my house, when I arrived I took my child in my arms, he was very feverish, his face red and his eyes especially shiny; he looked like he'd missed, despite to stay with my mother in law and meet her, the child had noticed my absence for several hours for the first time in his life.

Shortly after my dear husband came too worried, asking calmly and quietly, his face white and rosy cheeks expressed concern, we spent the whole night awake, because the child had gastroenteritis as confirmed by the pediatrician in the morning. That afternoon my mother came from Lima, capital of Peru, leaving my brothers and the whole family to visit and meet her grandson Spaniard-Peruvian synthesis of my adventure of crossing the borders of my country and of my desire to know more the world.

The grandmothers chatting animatedly as they barely knew each other because of the distance that separates the continents, but with a common concern: the health of the grandson. My child consumed all my energy then, as a new mother, I was afraid to take him in my arms and feel that he had become very thin in a few hours, his gaunt face and weakness of his body showed the terrible scourge of the disease.

That night my husband and I did the math to see if it was worth and it was imperative that I work and we decided by mutual agreement and without doubt it would be better for me to stay at home until the child grow a little more and see the best time to rejoin the work environment in a better time for everyone, that's my dream, that's my hope.

Brief career summary
Lessy Gabriela Jakiwara Grández
My career is varied, here in Spain and in Peru. I have a degree in sociology, I have done doctoral studies in Sociology of Public Opinion and Mass Culture at University Complutense of Madrid, I have obtained the Diploma of Advanced Studies in this area.
In Perú I have worked as Administrative Manager of Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru collaborating in the realization of the Ruta Quetzal-Argentaria on his expedition to Peru in 1995. Also, I have done administrative work at the School of Fine Arts of Peru and done social diagnosis for the NGO "Solidarity March" in the outskirts of Lima. Besides, I have worked as a teacher of the pilot's degree in the School "Alfonso Ugarte" in Lima. In Madrid I worked as telephone interviewer at several call centers and as a cultural mediator in the NGO "Movement for Peace, Disarmament and Liberty" (MPDL).