Day Four, La Perla

We received a great honor by being invited to tour La Perla, a neighborhood across from the school. Entrance to this community is by invitation only. This neighborhood took its name from the small fort and watchtower located nearby, part of the old city's fortification system. The neighborhood was created around 1850, when the government decreed the cemetery and slaughterhouse were to be moved to the outskirts of the city, and the workers associated with it followed. These were lower class workers, and it is still a very poor area where about two hundred families live today on 29 acres. There are about 108 children living here.

The community mobilizer, Don Jorge, was proud to show us the community center, where tutoring is provided for students; the community health clinic; and the Head Start Center. Education is being stressed as a way out of the cycle of poverty and drugs. The nearby Catholic school was just closed, so the children will be attending Lincoln school.

This is Don Jorge as he told us about his neighborhood:



The cemetery next to La Perla is the resting place of many famous people from Puerto Rico. When you see the cemetery, it looks like the caskets are placed above ground. However, Ignacio told us that they are sometimes above ground, and sometimes below.