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| Doña Modesta—she thinks that she is probably about eighty years old |
Mission Mexico
supports many different projects in the mountains of Guerrero. And it is a
great blessing to live here and to be a link between Mission Mexico in Canada and the
Mexican partners coordinating those projects. However, almost every day I
become involved in activities that are not specifically a “project” of Mission Mexico. Doña Modesta is a perfect
example of this.
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| Life is "back to normal" now for Doña Modesta |
I was returning from a funeral in Xochitepec for Benito, a
fourteen-year-old boy who was studying his third year of junior high school. On
Monday morning his parents were calling him to get out of bed to get ready for
school. When there was no answer, his father opened the bedroom door and found
Benito hanging from the ceiling. No one knows why, but something led Benito to
decide to end his life. It was a terrible shock to all.
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| Benito's classmates place flowers and candles on his gravesite |
As I was driving by a solitary house in Plan de Conejo, I
noticed an elderly woman sitting outside. I had a bag of fruit with me, and I
decided that this woman might appreciate the bananas and mandarins. I stopped
and offered her the fruit. She gladly accepted it. In broken Spanish (her
native language is mephaa), she
introduced herself as Modesta Gervasio Patricio. She said she appreciated the
fruit because it was “soft,” and since she had only one tooth, it would be easy
to digest. Modesta had fallen while gathering firewood three days earlier and
had a cut on her right leg.
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| Modesta on the day I first met her |
A week later I was driving by her house again, and I saw
the door open, so I decided to greet her. Modesta was resting on her bed; she
said her leg was very sore. A quick look suggested that the cut on her leg was
infected. I tried to convince her to let me drive her to a doctor, but she said
no; she had never gone to a doctor in her life.
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| Even someone as dozy as I am can recognize that something is wrong here |
In Tlapa the next day I showed photos of her leg to a
doctor. The doctor prescribed an injection against tetanus, an antibiotic, an
anti-inflammatory, and medicines and materials to clean the wound. On Saturday
I went with a nurse (Mariksa) and a translator (Jennifer) to visit Modesta.
Jennifer was able to explain to Modesta exactly what the injection was for, how
Modesta was to clean the wound in her leg each day just as Mariksa was cleaning
it, and when she should take the pills that we were leaving with her. Hearing
all of this in her own language made it easy for Modesta to agree to everything.
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| Mariksa did a great job of cleaning the wound on Modesta's leg |
I also left with Modesta a box of food and supplies. Modesta
laughed about eating “store food” after eighty years of eating “natural” food.
She also asked Jennifer, the translator, why Mike was so white. When we left, I
promised to return a week later to see how she was doing.
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| Probably the largest supply of "store stuff" that Modesta ever received |
Modesta proved to be a very good patient: she took her
pills and she cleaned her wound carefully. As I write this now, she is back to
gathering firewood for herself and not worrying so much about her leg. Life is “back
to normal” for her.
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| Photo taken three days ago in front of Modesta's house |
Activities such as this involvement are common for me. Six
weeks ago a young woman here fainted at work and was taken to the hospital; she was diagnosed with leukemia; the
doctor prescribed a treatment. On Sunday I went to see how she was doing. She
hadn’t started the treatment because her family didn’t have the 4,000 pesos
($250 Canadian) for the treatment. Thanks to Mission Mexico, Lupe is now receiving
treatment. (Lupe doesn’t want her employer to know that she is as ill as the
doctors say, so I won’t include her photo; she is scared that she will lose her
job.)
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| What a gift it is to be able to assist Modesta in her time of need! And it was possible due to those who support Mission Mexico. |
Thank you to everyone who supports Mission Mexico. It is a challenge just
to finance the projects approved for 2017; unexpected activities like assisting
Modesta and Lupe and others put an extra strain on finances. Please consider
making a donation to Mission Mexico;
I can promise you that your generosity will make a difference in the lives of
very needy people. Thank you.
