We travel down, again, to the destruction tomorrow. We have bribed the girls with a DVD and the boys with guilt. Though I hope not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it were not true. All four are finally healthy at the same time, though Jamie is still fighting something tummy. We’re almost always fighting something tummy this year. I continue to be awed and humbled by everyone’s generosity and now have enough money for two more trips. When Noe was giving us suggestions of what to purchase (and more specifically, what NOT to purchase) he asked for garlic and chayote. Later on he decided that it would be too much to ask for all that so I crossed them off the list. But I bought them anyway. His last request was for galletas for the kids. Cookies. He never asked for anything for his family or for himself; he thought only of the old, the poor, those with too many children and always the kids.
We have onions, water, chayote, garlic, milk, carrots, potatoes, granola bars (a box of four was 9 pesos on sale; we bought all they had), cookies, eggs, a watermellon for Noe’s family, oil, fresh jalapenos, (the produce guy was taking double, triple, quadruple looks at the gringa filling up two HUGE produce bags with 100 jalapenos in them…) and pure de tomate. We’ll bag everything up at Noe’s house while he directs us in what should comprise a dispensa. I would say we have 50 dispensas, but Noe might stretch that into 75 or 100. He says it is better to give a little bit to everyone rather than a lot to less. The only problem is that a “lot” is about $10USD worth of food. And that is the lastima.
On our way home, we’ll stop at the carpinteros in Limones and see if we can arrange for cabinets for our kitchen and we’ll stop at the pottery place still limping along and try to find something to buy from them. And marvel at how lucky we are to be in the postion of delivering dispensas and patronizing businesses. Thank you so much to you all.
Lastly, in weather news, China is about to receive Typhoon Wipha. She’s come down from a Super Typhoon status, but is still Cat 4 and packing a punch. Keep them in your thoughts, will you?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Christina // Sep 18, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hey Kit - I hope Jaime feels better soon. We remain in awe of your efforts there. Thank you for showing us how to help. It must be hard to see such a huge need and feel that you are filling just a small part of it. I’m sure you also realize the unlikely ripples that spread from acts of goodness - effects we’ll probably never know about. To paraphrase Adlai Stevenson, better to light a candle then curse the darkness.
Also, we are wriggling in anticipation of your visit. Safe travels and we’ll see you soon! Love, C
2 Michelle // Sep 18, 2007 at 10:38 pm
wriggling in anticipation?
like the pee dance?
we too are in awe, kitty.
i was just looking at the pic from the back of the van.
how lucky you are to find noe. to know that it is going where it is needed is such a nice feeling.
here is a ripple — we just picked up some info cards to buy coats for those in need up here in minny. after seeing all the pics of your kids handing the bags out we also signed up for the whole family to help deliver all the coats that our unitarian church collects.
see you in a month!
3 Robert Hill // Sep 18, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Sorry it took me so long to donate, life has been very busy for me and my family. I hope my small donation will be in time to assist someone. Thanks, Robert
4 Dr Paul // Sep 19, 2007 at 7:04 am
PaPa is wriggling, too. (What Michelle said.) But that just a chronic condition any more
Keep up the good work, Kitty. You really ought to put it in a book. Your writing continue to impress me.
love, dad
5 Mamahops // Sep 23, 2007 at 8:39 am
@Dad; thank you so much, Dad. My number one fan!
@Robert; thank you SO very much! Your donation was amazing! See the pictures to see what it bought. Thank you very very much.
@Michelle - how cool! Oodles of love to you and the boys and now it is LESS than a month! Thank you guys for all your support.
@Chrissy - I can only hope for the ripple and thanks to you all it doesn’t feel as futile anymore. Like Noe keeps telling people, “algo es algo” (getting something, even a little something, is a help)
Leave a Comment