Kuna women manage
family money whether they earn it or not, Yasmina tells us. "The
men sell coconuts, then buy cigarettes and whatever they need and give
the rest of their money to their wives. In old times, the women used to
put coins in a box around their neck. When they went dancing, the coins
jangled."
"I arranged to buy ten of my grandfather's coconut
trees for five dollars each. They are valuable. The traders who come here
from Cartagena, Colombia pay twelve cents for one coconut. |
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Local people pay twenty-five cents
for half a coconut leaf, and they need hundreds of leaves to make a roof
that lasts fifteen years. When you buy coconut trees, you get the land
under them automatically. I built a house and lived on that land for three
years."
Later, she shows us a fenced plot she has loaned to the elementary school
this year so the eight and nine year olds can learn science by growing
tomatoes, oranges and lemons as if they had a little farm. |