Expandable Family

A girl raised by the mother of our guard's wife who now lives here too.
The guard's wife is cooking in the background and her youngest is in orange.

Family lines are not strictly drawn here. Children often live with family members or friends for extended periods of time. There are not many families that we currently know who do not have these add-on children in their household right now. We live in the city, so sometimes it is to give children an education. I honestly don't know or understand all the reasons, but I know it is very common.

It is also very common to give a child to a relative and have the relative raise the child. It seems like the most common reason may be because the relative doesn't have any children of their own. The parents are careful about not have too much contact with their child so it doesn't look like they are interfering or disagreeing with how the relative is raising the child.

A great example of this is found in the language. If you meet an older woman or man who deserve respect, you refer to them as 'my mom' or 'my dad'. If you meet another woman (or man) who has the same name as your wife (husband), you refer to her as 'my wife' ('my husband')! You guessed it, if you meet another child with the same name as your child = 'my child'. It boggles our minds!

This is yet another way where we are confronted with how extremely individualistic US culture is versus how extremely community oriented the "Casa" culture is.