The mushroom cultivation project we financed continues apace.
Thanks to our friends in Chiautla we established contact with a water tank manufacturer (Rotoplast-type), who can provide us with tanks at an advantageous price. In San Antonio there were 53 requests, for which we advanced payment so that those interested could cover the cost in installments according to their posibilities. Delivery, originally planned for December, was delayed as we are still looking for a cheap transport provider.
We have been greatly concerned recently by the progress of Maricela, who had to be taken to hospital twice due to elevated levels of creatinine, and is currently being treated at the Hospital de La Raza to avoid rejection of the transplanted kidney.
Omar, meanwhile, is causing us great joy as he has made excellent progress, as we were able to see for ourselves on a visit on his birthday. It is plain to see that he is an excellent student with a great desire to learn. He enthusiastically got wrapped up in reading the Encyclopedia we gave him, forgetting the candles burning on his birthday cake.
Attention to people with disabilities
Tepexpan
One of our regular activities involves the repair of wheelchairs and presentation of cushions and mattresses for preventing bedsores. On this occasion it should be mentioned that our highly appreciated technician, Noé Martínez, also took charge of restoring to good working conditions fourteen manual wheelchairs that had been abandoned in a storeroom.
Thanks to our new contact with the company Urquieta, we were able to provide professional assessment and treatment to a number of people with hearing problems. Meanwhile, the foundation covered part of the cost of dental treatment for one of the disabled individuals resident at this hospital.
With great sorrow we learned that at the start of the new year the Sisters of St. Vincent, the dear Sores, will withdraw from Tepexpan. Both we, on behalf of the Foundation, and the Hospital residents themselves wrote letters and did everything possible to reverse this decision, but sadly we met with no success, since the falling numbers of members forces the order to reduce its centers of activity. Though the Hospital is well-staffed, the Sores were always attentive to the individual needs of residents, and they will be sorely missed.
Chiautla
Once again cooperation with our friends at “Derribando barreras” led to a series of individual actions.
Thanks to a hearing apparatus adapted by Casa Urquieta, Mónica can hear for the first time in her life. Now, at the age of 17 she will have to learn how to relate sounds to their meaning, as if she were an infant. This will require a course of therapy.
We were able to help Yetzarely, a 9-year-old girl with severe visual impairment, with the acquisition of a telescope, a special magnifying glass and dark glasses. For Angel (10) and his family, the solution took the form of a chair-cot, while Leo (5) is trying to learn to walk with the help of orthopedic braces we helped to provide.
We also donated ten walking sticks for adults with mobility issues and a guide stick for a young blind woman, and a number of cushions and mattresses for preventing bedsores.
There still remains the problem of providing transport for disabled people who want to make use of the services at the Derribando Barreras rehabilitation center. However, for the time being a provisional solution has been found with our friend Ramón making his vehicle available, while we cover fuel costs.
In order to gather funds, we recommended that our friends at Derribando barreras organize a bazaar or second-hand goods sale, for which we are collecting used clothing, toys and other objects.
Miscellaneous
For the last few months we have been supporting a young woman of meager resources who is studying nursing, contributing to her transport and college fees.