A young Puerto Rican man came in the Center for Adult Learning this morning sobbing. He spoke very little English and I was only able to learn that he had been in the U.S. two days when his luggage was stolen at the airport. He indicated he still had his identification and wallet. I speak only English, the library's Spanish speaking staff was unavailable, so Flory Martinez allowed me to interrupt her class to assist him, then asked a student in her class, another Spanish speaking gentleman, to point him to the Sulzbacher Center and help contact his family by phone. She said later he was able to stay overnight at the Salvation Army, but now needed a new place to go. The scene reminded me of a story that Jesuit Greg Boyle told in a video lecture available on Creighton University's website of how one helps another. The word is cletcha. From Greg Boyle's speech:
"And my community is 99% Latino/Chicano, and there is a whole other language other then Spanish. It is called Cholo. Cletcha is an expression they use all the time. It'is not just a place: “Did you go to cletcha?” It is also an activity. You give cletcha, you school somebody, you educate them, run it down to them, give them cletcha. You’ll hear it all the time on the streets, “Run it down to them. Give them cletcha. Tell him what he needs to know.”
Nice to see it in action.
Katie Bark, Center for Adult Learning, Jacksonville Public Library, Jacksonville Florida 5/5/10