Concha
Ina’s family rented their apartment in Quito from a middle class Ecuadorian family, the Buenos, sharing a courtyard space where they washed clothes and the children played. Like most families of that social class position, the Buenos had a young indigenous girl, named Concha, who lived with the family as a domestic servant. Ina believes that Concha was 13 or 14 years old when she met her. Known as empleadas, these young girls often spend their childhoods and sometimes their entire lives working in the households of others cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc. Ina struck up a friendship with Concha to interesting ends.
