Sunday, September 14, 2014

30 MINUTES AFTER WE LEFT


 Jonathon

It was sudden, it was tragic and deadly as vehicle accidents tend to be. Because this truck was very heavy, full of water, as it crashed it smashed everything! The driver and owner of the truck was killed leaving his wife and three little kids. Another widow.

Jonathon, 15, had a job on the truck helping deliver water to poor communities including Ijido. He didn't earn much but what he did earn he gave the family to help with food and schooling. The family is nine. Their father left the family two years ago. He had lung cancer and became too weak to hold down a job. He told his oldest son "I'm too weak to work, I'm worthless, just another mouth to feed, I'm leaving in a couple of days." He left and has never returned.

Family life has changed radically since the accident. They all live one way or another at the hospital. Families tend to stay at the hospital day and night waiting. Always waiting. (What a place to minister.)


 Getting Update on Jonathon

Yesterday while I was there, Jonathon's mother, Aracele, returned from talking with the doctor. In the accident, Jonathon's head was crushed, arm broken several abdominal punctures. At this point they have put him in an induced coma until Monday. The news wasn't good, she calmly shared it with the family.


 Jose Angel

To make matters worse, when Jonathon's two older brothers heard about the accident, they asked their supervisor for permission to leave work and head to the hospital to see their brother. In fact they asked him for a little transportation money. He flatly refused, and told them to get back to work! The boys threw down their shovels and left ... the supervisor yelling "... and don't come back!" Looks like support for the family is at flat zero.

That's where you enable us to come in immediately and help. They will need lots of help for a time. Not only Jonathon's family but the new widow and her three children in Ijido.

As I left everyone was eating, Hortensia bought barbequed chicken, tortillas and cold drinks for the family, and dolls for each of the little girls.


 Kids in a Cold House

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

A LITTLE NOBODY


 Baby Still Has His Tubes

This is about a little insignificant someone born on the wrong side of the fence two weeks ago. A tiny boy, so young he doesn't have a name ... We met his teen age mother as she was walking around her barrio with a cup, trying to collect enough pesos for transportation back to the hospital to see her newborn son. A congenital flip-flop placed the baby's bowls up in his chest area covering one lung and necessitating immediate surgery. In those first few days the little boy went under the knife several times. Mom was torn between her young girls at home and her new born son. Public transportation costs money.


 Triplet Sisters Visit Their Little Brother

She brought the baby boy to see me a couple of days ago. A few days after the surgeries they sent the little boy home, tubes and all ... not the most hygienic solution. Now the boy had developed a swelling on his right side and his young mother needed transportation money to get him back to the hospital ... she also needed food for the four small girls at home. Sometime things all seem to come apart, and this was one of those days. In emergencies like this we're here to help. Our general fund is where we find the money to help in situations like this. (Thanks to the help some of you give me.) Indeed this little fellas tough ... lets pray that he makes it.