I want to share this short video documentary (two minutes long) with you guys that a dear friend of mine here in Chile, Jacqueline Fabius, produced.  Jacqueline is a gifted photographer, graphic designer, and a budding filmmaker. She’s also off in Haiti working to set up a school as we speak. Here, in Nothing from Heaven, she shows us a day in the life of Señora Veronica, a cleaning woman in Chile, who discusses issues of class, women’s rights, and her own personal aspirations.

This documentary presents an interesting perspective within Chilean society, which is very stratified (aren’t all countries though to some extent?). Certainly those of us familiar with Chile and its culture will have some resonance since we are fortunate to have domestic help. Señora Veronica immediately reminded me of Mimí who works in our home with pride, love, and treats us like her own kids. She too has worked the best that she can to put her kids through college so that they can advance towards a better future, through education.

While Chile certainly is classist in many respects, perhaps one of the best things this earthquake did was to bridge that gap which has grown with all the economic progress in the recent years. People seem to have dropped their guard and contribute to being more a United Chile. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter where you went to high school or how much you make or what car you drive or what your last name is.  Chileans say “Fuerza Chile”, “Vamos Chile”, all the time. It is a common hope, goal, aspiration that has nothing to do with class. I sincerely hope that this attitude will also become part of people’s being during reconstruction and not something just temporary. There’s no need to be classist. We are all equal and having the same human experience. There is enough abundance and opportunity for everyone.

Enjoy and share! And thank you Jacqueline for this brilliant video.