Doug got on the bus to Lima this evening. He’ll fly out of Lima about midnight tomorrow heading to California to spend the holidays with family. God speed, mi amor!
I finished the calendar portion of the quilt top for the Blue Moon bungalow. All in all, I was pretty happy with how it came out. The piece work was a lot harder than I thought it would be…and not all corners are exactly on. One of the next steps will be to add things onto the calendar. Mandy has a birthday in August, Doug and I have an anniversary in August….I know two of my nephews were born in August….I’ll put all of those on the calendar. If you have a special date in August, let me know and I’ll add it on. FYI, the next blue moon will be in August of 2012.
I’ve just begun on the rest of the quilt…and hoping the “background” design doesn’t detract or make it all too busy.
We were approached by another “friend” in need of money. Charro is one of the first people we met in Peru and she is the daughter of our fisherman friend, Perico. In the last year, Charro has struggled with cancer of the stomach which now seems to be in remission. When she became ill, and unable to continue working at a hotel at the same level of productivity, she was fired. Her employer did not carry healt insurance for her, so whatever resources she had were exhausted fighting the cancer. However, she has just been diagnosed with a tumor in her breast. She will travel to Piura on Wednesday to see her doctor and to find out if she can make a claim against her x-employer for her seven years of service and get some coverage. If not, she will need to pay for removal of the tumor out of pocket. She owns her home in Los Organos, and is willing to sell it to help pay for the operation. I’m not sure how much this procedure will cost here in Peru. And I will have a hard time refusing her help.
However, we have been approached by many people asking for money. We’ve donated Christmas gifts to several local organizations. We are committed to helping the El Ñuro church build an addition. We´ve been asked to buy medicine for a sick sister….to buy Christmas gifts for grandchildren…..to loan money because the fishing is so poor and a family member is sick…. It seems to go on and on. Doug and I have decided we would not give to individuals unless they wished to work for the money. We´ve decided to set a budget for charity giving or community support and apportion it in whatever manner we feel will reach the most people.
So, given this, I will have a difficult time not helping Charro. The disparity between our life and the locals is incredibly huge. It´s a difficult issue. You want to befriend your neighbors…but what they want from you isn´t necessarily friendship.
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