Friday, June 12, 2009

The smile of hope





I asked CI to look into something for Diego. I told you guys his story before, but he is sad and depressed in his letters and pictures. I want to do something to give him hope. The field office went out to his house and discussed different options with his aunt (his caretaker). Then, they took some pictures. This is the best I have seen Diego look all year!!! He must know what is going on (that someone is going to help his family) because he has a smile of hope on his face!!
I did not know what all he was going through, and the report that came back will be so helpful. Now that I know what he faces, I know what to do. One of the disturbing pieces in the report is that he can't go to the public school near his house because of his illness. He has to go to a private school far from home, which his aunt can barely afford. He has to wear a uniform, but they can only afford one. His aunt washes his uniform after school each day, so that he will have a clean one for the next day.
Here is the report that I received from CI (by the way, I will let you know when I know how his fundraiser will be completed. It is times like these that I wish I could win the lottery & take are of everyone!!):
Currently, Diego Armando doesn’t own the house where he lives, for that reason it is not recommendable to make any repair to it. This house was given by heritage by Diego’s grandmother to her 4 children (uncles of Diego).

Diego has other urgent needs, which we will describe at the end of this report. Following, we are providing a background of part Diego’s story, which allows us to support their current needs.

Family

Diego suffers from an illness which was transmitted from his parents who already died. This child is living with an aunt from the father’s side who is in charge of him. Diego is everything for his aunt. His grandfather visits him frequently (he is in some of the pictures attached to this report).

Diego’s Feeding and treatment:

Diego is receiving a complete treatment supported by the Government Health System and the sponsorship program. A good feeding is important to keep the child’s defenses up, which will allow to extend his life’s expectations.

In spite of the aunt prepares healthy food for Diego, Doctor recommended that he needs to take a multi-vitamin complement daily, Its commercial name is “Pediasure” which Diego is not taking currently because of lack of economic resources. The supplement, that costs $150, would cover the purchase of 12 cans of 400 gr. each. Diego should take a cup of this treatment once a day (1 can is enough for 2 weeks). Therefore, this treatment of 12 cans of “Pediasure” would cover 6 months of treatment.

In this case, we would coordinate the services of the pharmacy that provides our sponsored children with medicaments. Then, Diego will be able to get a medical order to periodically collect the vitamin supplement.

Income Generating Business:

Diego’s aunt is a 60 year old-lady who works very hard selling food for masons at construction areas far away from her neighborhood everyday. She lends the food ingredients very early in the mornings, cooks and sells the food, and recovers the profits returning the loan to the provider in the afternoon. She needs 60 a day to buy the ingredients of the food that she sells, working 14 days a month.

This lady owes the food provider $600 since one year and a half ago, which has been difficult for her to collect and this is generating lot of stress on her that has affected her health.

She pays partial fees between $46 and $137 each 15 days. She doesn’t pay interests because this debt is represented in food she got from the public market. There is not a document that supports this debt. This commercial relationship is based on the confidence, because of the length of it and because the lady has made all the partial payments in time. This kind of informal commercial relationship is very common among our community’s vendors.

We are searching for this provider to determine its legal constitution and way to document the payments in case this donation is approved

With a capital of $250, Diego’s aunt would cover 5 working days and the preparation of 226 lunches. Each lunch has a cost of $1.83. This means that she would make $413. Taking into account the capital support ($250), she would have a profit of $163. Diego’s aunt can reinvest such capital in order to use the profits in the house’s maintenance and Diego’s school and basic needs. Also, she will be save part of the profits to face any calamity that Diego’s illness may brought.

If the debt of $600 is paid, we expect that with this capital support and monitoring from the Agency staff, she receives profits during an indefinite time, as long as she keeps the good health to work cooking and selling food, or until any out of control factor affects the business.

School and transportation:

Diego is attending a private school located far away from his neighborhood, because he has been rejected by other children living around and he is not accepted in public school due to his condition too.

Currently, Diego has 1 uniform and the aunt needs to wash it every afternoon to keep it ready to wear early the day after. The school has a monthly cost of $23.

Diego’s aunt takes him to school every morning by bus. After class, Diego takes a bus with his teacher’s help, and he get off the bus in the place the aunt sells the food. Then, they both go back home together in the afternoon. The transportation cost also depends on the support and income generated from the food business.

Current Diego Armando’s need list:

*Food supplement: $150
*School Fee ($23 from May to November): $161
*Textbooks: $70
*Single bed with mattress: $210
*Clothing for the child: $200
*Bed sheets and pillow: $18
*Electric fan: $42
*School Uniforms (T-shirt, pants, sport uniform and shoes: $73
*Debt of the aunt: $600
*Refrigerator (The one they have is not in good conditions
and it is not working well to keep the business’ ingredients
well conserved): $400
*Capital to buy food ingredients for the business: $250

Total: $2,174

2 comments:

Steve said...

Diego has certainly had his share of challenges, but he is lucky to have such a caring sponsor helping him out!

Anonymous said...

Excellent work picking up on his depression...and in putting in the time to get a detailed field report to get down to the bottom of it. Best wishes to you.
Skye
happy4all