A Long Way From Lima

It's like being thrown from a Yatzee cup. The sum of five dice could be anything from five to thirty. The number of combinations hard to calculate.

Canvassing for a political campaign feels just that way. Who will be your partner? Where will you go? Who will you meet? What new memory will be stuffed in your back pocket?

Last Saturday I was paired with Sara Palomino. What did I know about her? Only this, she's a little Peruvian coed with ambitions to someday become five feet tall.

I've seen her float randomly through crowds promoting Ben like a soap bubble refusing to pop. I've been at headquarters and heard the background music of her voice making call after call. When we close I've seen her alone in the dark waiting for the bus that takes her to the opposite side of the valley.

Until yesterday, that was the extent of my witness to who she is. But that would change.

Walking down a street that was strange to us both I asked, "Tell me Sara, what's your story?"

"My story?"

"Yes, where'd you come from? How'd you get here?"

“Well, I'm from Peru, which you already know. Beyond that I'm from a small town a long way from Lima - the only real city in Peru. Chances are if you don't live in Lima you herd sheep and you're poor."

"That's what brought you here? The opportunity to be better off?"

She paused for a moment, thinking how best to answer that question. "If being better off means having more money, I don't think so. Our problem was The Shining Path."

I knew The Shining Path as a famously brutal revolutionary movement that murdered thousands. "I've heard of them," I said, "True believers. Extremely ruthless."

"Exactly," she replied, "They were led by a man named Guzman. He appealed to the rural poor who have no access to health care or education. He told them they were invisible in Lima, and he was right about that. Unfortunately, he wound up only manipulating them and creating death and misery."

"Your own family was affected?"

"The mayor of our village was assassinated. My uncle was murdered simply because he had the same name as a prominent politician."

"So you came here for safety?"

"Yes, but we've been blessed in other ways too. I was thirteen when we arrived and knew only Spanish. Next year I'll graduate from the 'U.' I hope to become a teacher."

This brief part of our conversation is not all there is to know about Sara. Far from it. An additional detail is Martha, a young Latina even more active in our campaign. Until yesterday I thought their friendship was the sole motive for Sara's original devotion to the cause.

But now I wonder.

Were there other motives at play? Does the ideal of a just society have special meaning for Sara? Does she have reason to believe that access to education and health care are particularly important? Could she be motivated by something as simple as the joy of politics without fear?

I don't know.

What I do know is that next time I hear her asking someone to vote for Ben, I'll appreciate that request in an entirely new way.