In Spite of the Headwinds

Chapter 1

Roots

On Wednesday morning, his twenty-eighth birthday, the young Dario dos Santos was filled with excitement. His wife was in labor at the hospital, and he was counting down the minutes until the arrival of his second child. A simple man with little academic background, Dario worked hard at his job of cleaning the streets of the city in which he lived. Their household income also included the little his wife was able to earn with her hand washing of clothes for several families. This couple was known for their intrinsic faith in God, which was even stronger than the love they had for each other.

That Wednesday, as Dario pushed his old bicycle uphill along the steep part of the street, he couldn’t help but wonder about the child’s sex. Was it going to be another girl, to be company for his firstborn, Sonia? Or would it be a boy, a future preacher? It was winter in that small Brazilian village, but the 82-degree temperature caused the young father to sweat to the point of soaking his dark, straight, well-combed hair. His shirt was sticking to his body, which was tanned by overexposure to the sun. During his lunch break, Dario was headed to the hospital to visit his wife and meet his newborn for the first time.

At the hospital, he heard music to his ears: “Your wife is well, and she had a baby boy.” Dario was so elated that he nearly fainted and had to be helped to his seat. His wife, Cecilia, was still sedated, and Dario was told he would not be able to see her or his son until visitation hours the next day.

Amidst the happiness of having a son and the disappointment of having to wait for more than twenty-four hours to be able to meet his own child, he returned to his work. That afternoon, everyone who came near Dario heard him say, “It’s a boy.” Every boy who passed by, whether going to school or just playing on the streets, was enough to divert the dedicated Dario from whatever he was working on. His head, already heated by the scorching sun, got even hotter when he tried to think which of those boys on the streets his son would look like.

It was a happy day, but it also demanded of him a steep price. The reason he couldn’t spend unscheduled visitation with his wife and baby son was that he couldn’t afford medical insurance. That afternoon seemed endless as he anxiously looked at his watch every five minutes to check if it was time to leave work and go tell his relatives and friends. Finally, at five o’clock, Dario rushed to spread the news in his neighborhood, especially because most people had bet the baby would be another girl.

As he sped downhill, the wind dried Dario’s wet shirt as he pedaled as fast as his old bicycle would go. He went straight to the house of his mother-in-law, Ms. Arminda, to break the news to her. When he got there, he was so happy that he couldn’t speak, and he started sobbing beyond control.

Had it not been for Ms. Arminda’s strength and resilience, she would have been in despair, thinking that something bad had happened to her daughter or to the child. “Sit down, Dario. I’ll get you a glass of water with sugar to calm you down,” she said.

Dario sat down on a tree trunk in the shade of a large guava tree and calmed down. A glass of water and sugar had never been so effective in calming someone. His composure regained, Dario said, “Sister Arminda, Cecilia is well, and she had a baby boy.”

Ms. Arminda sighed in relief and said, “Blessed be the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Although his son’s birth was of great importance to Dario, for Ms. Arminda it was just the birth of her twenty-first grandchild. Though he never said so, her calm reaction left Dario a little disappointed. He thought she didn’t care, which wasn’t true. Dario thought he would have received more support had he gone to tell his parents first. However, they lived more than thirty miles away, and he couldn’t afford that trip.