BY EDGAR RAMIREZ ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

I met Dulce Ramirez 4 years ago, during a visit to the Penn Museum of Archeology; back then she had a 3-year-old baby, Alan. Originally from Mexico City (Mexico), Ramirez arrived in Philadelphia when she was just 13 years old, along with her parents. Her path has not been easy, but she has always had the courage to face the challenges that life throws her way, even during the pandemic.

For Ramirez, school and childhood were gone in the blink of an eye, without much to look forward to. Although she wishes she would have been able to have better access to education, her family's economic situation did not allow for extracurricular activities or SAT prep. Instead, Ramirez had to work to contribute to the household from a very young age. 

She had to grow up fast. And after becoming a mom at age 19, work became the tool to help Alan get ahead in life and have better opportunities. Like 25% of Latinos in the U.S., Ramirez has worked as a waitress for various restaurants. This has allowed her to make ends meet, especially after her parents returned to Mexico. However, everything changed once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

"Everything is going to be okay"

On March 16, 2020, Philadelphia issued restrictions for the restaurant industry, prompting restaurants and bars to shut down for two weeks. Seven days later, the city was quarantined, indoor dining was banned, and hundreds of restaurants closed their doors temporarily until the restrictions were eased.  

Overnight, Ramirez became one of the 5.5 million restaurant workers who lost their jobs. It was the longest walk home she had ever taken. Hundreds of questions ran through her head. What was she going to do without a job? How would she handle quarantine? How would she find a way to help her 7-year-old son thrive in a world that seemed even more chaotic than normal? The lack of answers to her queries terrified her. 

Like most people, Ramirez’s 26 years of life had not prepared her for this situation. But beyond worrying about her sudden lack of income, she was afraid her reaction to such a stressful situation could have an impact on her son. Making Alan feel at ease was her priority. "Everything is going to be okay," she kept repeating to herself.

She gradually explained to him what the pandemic was in a general way, so as not to alarm him. But she never told him that she had no job. She managed to make ends meet by taking turns, here and there, to wait tables once the city allowed outside dining. Her time was tight. With schools switching to online, Ramirez had to take care of Alan's education. There was only so much she could work. 

In less than a month, she joined the 5.1 million mothers in the U.S. who quit working for pay. Although Alan's father is part of the child's life, Ramirez is the one who carries the day-to-day responsibility of raising him. In the midst of so much uncertainty, she was assailed by the doubt that with her as his teacher, Alan might not be able to keep up with the rest of his class. "I should have prepared more during school," she repeated to herself with regret. 

Amidst so many mixed feelings, she managed to push through with creativity. She built a learning routine for Alan to give him structure and to allow him to reinforce what he learned in class through play time.  

The first thing was to make sure Alan slept early, so she could avoid the daytime struggle of trying to wake him up. Mistakes were made here and there, but she never stopped trying to get him to bed in time. Next, she would make him breakfast, so he would have energy to study, brush his teeth and log on to the virtual classroom.

The biggest challenge was to capture Alan's attention and keep him from getting distracted by his favorite toys. Ramirez did her best to help Alan learn from the classes, but she reinforced the subject by reading and writing with him for thirty minutes a day. They would do homework together and, before the end of the day, they would build puzzles and assemble structures with Legos, relating them to what he had learned in class. 

As the days and months went by, doing these activities gave them the confidence that everything would be okay. 

Around the same time, Ramirez and I met again. She was happy because despite everything, the pandemic had allowed her to spend time with Alan, resulting in an improved relationship based on trust. Yet, she worried that her son didn't have enough Spanish content. Online education had made her realize that both she and Alan had focused on reading in English and had neglected Spanish, because it was harder for them.

"I want Alan to be able to function in both languages," she told me. I showed him a stack of Spanish-language children's books from the Philibros project. From then on, every time she came to the radio, she brought home a new one. Very soon, her interest in Spanish books had intensified and her desire to help the community with what she learned in those hours of anguish was even greater. 

"Giving [Alan] the right tools gave me the opportunity to find my own roots," said Ramirez. And the idea of him hearing about authors from his culture and seeing himself represented sprouted a seed. With no experience as a host or a degree in communications, she ventured out to create her own radio show in Philatinos. Thus, Booktitlan was born. 

Booktitlan is a mix between the English word book and the Nahual word titlan, which means place. It is a "place for books," where all books and cultures are welcome. Every Tuesday, Ramirez and her co-host Dayesla Ixtli interview authors of diverse ethnic backgrounds about their Spanish literary works. In less than six months, they have accumulated over 400 listeners. 

Besides Booktitlan, Ramirez started volunteering at Mighty Writers El Futuro. A Philly based organization focused on teaching children to think clearly through the power of writing. This has given her the perfect opportunity to help other Latinos instill in their children the love for culture.

Without a doubt, the pandemic gave her the opportunity to improve her life and put her priorities in perspective. Today, she no longer works in a restaurant. Ramirez is a guide at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens—she walks its halls and shows visitors the magic of the place. She has found in Booktitlan and Mighty Writers El Futuro the perfect place to help kids like Alan keep their bilingualism alive, love Spanish and be proud of their culture.