<Begin Segment 43>

AI: But in the meantime, before you did leave camp, I remember you saying that you had also worked outside at the FSA camp for a while.

PB: Yes.

AI: And that was, that camp was a farm worker labor camp.

PB: Uh-huh.

AI: And I was wondering if you could describe that camp, and some of the work that you did there.

PB: Well, that was a camp where there were Mexican workers came in, and... let's see, what was the other nationality? There was another nationality that came in there.

AI: Did you say Jamaican?

PB: Jamaicans, yes. The Jamaicans are tall people, and they're a mixed race, so it's hard to determine just what they are. They're, some of 'em are fair-skinned, and they have light hair, but they're quite tall. And the only way that you could tell is their hair is kinky like a Negro's. And they sing beautifully, harmonize beautifully, play guitars, and they sing, and the same way with the Mexican people. They harmonize so beautifully. I think the... I can't remember which one came first, the Mexicans or the Jamaicans, but they had little cottages where the sick people stayed, and then there was one big mess hall where the cooks were, where the people ate.

And then there was a clinic building where there was... well, there was three of us girls, all of our names were Margaret, or Marguerite. And I had worked with one of the girls in camp before, she's an RN, and I think there was one, probably a doctor, I don't remember exactly, but they were seen at the clinic, and of course, I had to take food out to people in the cottages if they were unable to go to the mess hall and I would take the food out to them, see that they took their shower, and tried to get 'em to get into bed. Like the Mexican people, I couldn't get them to get in bed. They slept on top of the bed, and they didn't remove any of their clothing. They always had this, their own blanket slung over their shoulder, and they usually wore a hat, and they didn't even take their shoes off; they just lay right on top of the bed. And trying to tell them to take a shower, I had quite a time at first, because they didn't understand English, and I didn't understand Spanish. I learned pretty fast, though -- [laughs] -- and I kind of enjoyed learning new words. Every day I tried to learn a new word, and I'd go down to mess hall and pick up things and maybe learn one word or one phrase, and I began to speak Spanish quite well. I thought, "This is fine, because I love to learn another language." And the Mexican people, they'd always greet me in the morning, "Buenos dias," or, "Margarites, tres Margarites," they'd say, because there were three of us, and we're all named Margaret. And they'd even come down and serenade us. They had just beautiful music; I just love their harmonizing. And the Jamaicans are the same way; they sing, play the guitar, harmonize beautifully. I really enjoyed their music.

AI: Well, this is so, so interesting, because I think a lot of people didn't realize that there was this work camp that had people from other places, other countries, in fact.

PB: Uh-huh. Well, I worked out there, I think, about three or four months, and I really enjoyed it because I was back in the hospital work again, but my Japanese boss in camp was holding my position open because he wanted me back into photography. So he kept leaving the position open, and in the meantime, the Caucasian boss had changed from, they changed every so often. In fact, I had three bosses, I think, during my time in Idaho. And John was the last officer that was there, had met me at, he was waiting for me to come back to camp. And he was teasing the Japanese boss that I had, he said, "Oh, this is the gal you're waiting for," when I came back to camp. But John was really a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun with him, and I learned a lot from Joe, because he taught me... he started me on coloring photographs, which became my main profession when I moved to Chicago.

<End Segment 43> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.