As I left my house en route to meet up with Viridiana, I walked past a kinder garden where an earthquake drill was going on. I noticed all the young kids leave the class rooms, walking behind the teachers who were leading them to a safe and secure place.

An immediate feeling of innocence called me and made me feel pretty damn well. The fact that I can still be sensitive towards certain things in life is a sign that I can still show empathy and love towards the most human elements. Sensitivity is something that has slowly faded away from people, or at least it certainly has among most of my friends.

I jumped on the bus and headed to the metro station, got on the train and arrived at the meeting point.

I had never met Viridian before though for the last 2 months or so, we have been trying to arrange to see each other, although we always ended up ditching one another.

She is the single mother of Daren who is 5 years of age, I believe. Viridian lives with her sister and nephew in an apartment block in the southwest of Mexico City.

As I enter her home, she kindly offers me something to drink to which I accept since it is steaming hot outside and I am well hot. 

I was intrigued to know how she managed her life. I mean, she is a young woman with a little boy whom she loves but I am sure it must be pretty tough at times…

In order to make ends meet and stretch the money to provide her son with a nice life, she has to work long hours.

Aside from the work routine, as a mother, Viridiana must carry out the tough mom duties which are not officially recognised as a job although that is exactly what they are. Her dream is to see her son advance in life by doing well at school and see him happy when he grows up. I believe that is the wish of any mother and father, though sadly, there are some exceptions.

Viridiana used to do graffiti not too long ago, before Daren was born. Back then, she says that she didn’t measure the consequences of her acts. She was younger and felt no fears of walking the streets at night, either on her own or with her girl friends.

She recalls once leaving her house without her family’s permission at midnight to paint a wall nearby. At around 3 am she was approached by a guy who harassed her and tried to mess with her. Fortunately nothing happened and Viridiana was able to return home safe and sound.

She analyses situations like this in retrospect and thinks that those actions were pretty stupid. Today, she is fully dedicated to her son; that is what matters to her and she wants the best for him. Graffiti is not important to her anymore.

A second question regarding harassment to women emerges. Viridiana, - may I dare to ask if you have ever been molested or has something ever happened to you? She responded that she has fortunately never encountered a violent situation herself, although a person she knows was raped at a party where she was present some years ago.

Viridiana described to me how it all happened. Basically, she was at a party near Santa Fe. The girl in question was not very friendly with Viridiana, in fact, they had a bit of a dispute for some reason.

The girl left the house and was soon cornered by 5 men who ambushed her, and proceeded to rape her. 

I won’t go into details about it as the story is pretty tragic. After the disgusting criminal act by these despicable thugs, she sought help by knocking on the doors along the road though nobody was willing to help her. Viridiana was quick to support her when she realised what had happened. She opened the door and gave her comfort. 

The girl was devastated and all she wanted was to escape from that hell she had experienced. Those vile thugs had just taken away her happiness in one of the most brutal ways possible…

Viridiana called an ambulance which took her to a nearby hospital. Since that tragic episode, she has not seen or heard from that girl again.

It’s a reality that women are prey of many vicious men in Mexico who have no respect for the opposite sex. They think that the only role women are allowed to play on this planet is to please men sexually and little else. Many of my own friends express themselves in terrible ways about women. I believe that they are not conscious of the vocabulary they use though I know they are not bad people. If only they thought about their mother, daughter/s or sister/s before they degraded a woman by calling her nasty names, then I reckon they would think twice about how they express themselves, let alone we would live in a much happier planet, I want to believe…

Viridiana finally drove me to the nearest subway stop where I grabbed the train and headed to la Condesa, in the centre of Mexico City. As I was inside the carriage, my eyes caught an ad that said: Due to it’s feminine discretion… It was a slogan that promoted a wome’s product but it had been changed by someone who placed a sticker on top of the message. The sticker said: I want you alive, in reference to the violence that women suffer in this country.

I hopped off the train and carried on with my journey under the extreme sun…