Last Thursday was Spectrum's workday in barrio Laguna.
Mari was glad to get the free vegetables but really needed a couple of dollars to pay transportation to visit her boy in Tijuana's General Hospital. She threaded her way through the crowd contacting several of the missionaries telling them about her son Victor in the hospital. The day before he was vomiting blood where she took him, by bus, to the General Hospital where they quickly operated on him. She simply needed a little cash for bus fare to visit him. Several prayed with her but none offered her any help for transportation.
Then one lady pulled Mari aside and said, "go find Hortensia, she'll help you." Word gets around.
Well, that just what she did, and Hortensia listened to her story. Mari has four young kids and her husband is crippled and can't work. He gets a pension of about $90. a month. She earns a little extra by selling candies, tortillas and nopalis (cactus) When Victor, 9, had his attack, they took him to the hospital, but then she had to return home to the young children.
Alone in the General Hospital isn't a good place for a kid to be. No mother would want to leave her son in a Hospital alone. She wanted so badly to visit him, but had no money to get transportation. One or two dollars would do the job. No one it seemed had the money to give her.
Well, Hortensia did give her the transportation money plus some food money for the family.
I met Victor last Saturday, the day he was discharged from the hospital. He had lost a lot of blood. Victor was a little shy but let me pull his lower eyelids down and I saw he was still anemic. He needed good food and some red meat.. (Iron) So we made it possible for her to buy the food the doctor prescribed. In this case the proper diet was essential!
We appreciate those of you who make it possible for us to help in cases like this.
