‘Tradition is important to us,’ she said, and there was a little faraway smile on her face, even as the tears fell. ‘The whole family joins in with the Nacimiento, dyeing the sawdust, collecting the perfect cloth, the right linens and flowers and stones. Each year we build a new one and we try to be the grandest in the village. Some of the folk religion – the old ways – they find their way into the nativity but if it were wrong to do so I feel sure Father would have told us so. It was he who said that while pride is sinful, so is sloth, and God wants us to do our very best. There is some competition between the families. It matters. My son, he had saved his own money to purchase this splendid cloth to adorn Christ’s crib, and …’ She stopped herself. Looked down at nothing and gripped my hand.

‘You’re a mam?’

‘A mam? Oh, si, a mother. I do not know. Is there a word for a mother who has lost her child?’

My insides twisted up on themselves. It felt like there were roots wrapping around my throat. I didn’t know what to say or even if I had the voice to do so. ‘My lad was a grown-up when we lost him,’ I croaked, my body so stiff it was like I’d died and nobody had told me. ‘My friend – the lady who’s house this is – she lost her baby when he was two. It nearly killed her. There’s no feeling like grief. I’m so very sorry for your sadness.’

She nuzzled against me like she was a house-cat wanting a stroke and it suddenly didn’t feel odd to hold her tight. ‘He went back,’ she said, quietly. ‘As my brother and I fled, he went back to fight. Will I ever find a way to make sense of that, do you think? Eight years old and more courage than me.’

I couldn’t offer anything of use. I just patted her arm. ‘Bad things happened?’

She nodded. ‘The same lies will be told, I am sure. I believed that I would be able to persuade the people in power that they should not listen to those lies. I came here to try and make changes. But I know now, even with God’s grace, that I have been told more untruths. There is no “powerful man” who can change the mind of a president. There is no force for good working against the evil done by my government. There is no hope for my people. Nobody really cares.’