This is the story of a family in need in San Juan de la Concha, Masaya who I came to meet by coincidence of life two month ago approximately. Let’s meet Martha Hernandez 70 years old, Jose Rosalio Mercado 77 yrs old (husband) and Jose Lucio Mercado 37 yrs, son of Martha and Jose Rosalio.
It was an afternoon on a weekend and Martha stopped by my place selling vegetables and fruits because that’s what she does for a living. She comes three days a week to Managua to make a few Cordoba’s to survive. I remember I bought some mangos from her and I noticed she needed some shoes. The day before I had brought home a pair of sandals which I was going to donate to somebody who needed them in Ometepe but I immediately thought about trying those on Martha and if they fit her, they were hers without a doubt. She did try them on and bingo… the sandals fit her perfectly. She was so so happy to have a good pair of sandals and she was going to wear them in a church service she would have at home to pray for Jose Rosalio’s health since he was not doing well at the time. She left but I had told her to come to the office the following week to give her some school supplies for her grandchildren.
The following week, Martha showed up, got the school supplies and of course thanked WNP for thinking of her and her grandchildren. She is a great believer and even prayed for all of us here. At that time I thought she and her family could be the recipient of a few things we were going to donate to a family in need. We were looking for a prospect and what better prospect than Martha’s family. I proceeded to send the pictures of Martha to Amy and told her about my idea of adopting Martha’s family to help them out with a few things we could donate from the shipments. Amy agreed and next I started to plan a visit to Martha’s home to see firsthand what she really needed. Moises and I went there and I personally was shocked to see the conditions of her little humble house.
She needed a new home honestly. She had no kitchen because it had fallen down with the rain, she had no tables, no bed, a few cooking utensils, her clothes were hanging off a rope which means no closet to keep her clothes in and the list goes on and on. I took notes of everything I saw and came back to the office and into the warehouse to look for things that would be helpful to her at home. My first choice would have been to change the roof of her house because it was and still is in very bad shape that when it rains she has a lot of leaks on the roof. But as you all know that is not the kind of support WNP does. All we could do was to find things in our warehouse that could be useful to her. We found a round table, 4 chairs, a basket, kitchen utensils and dishes, a small storage cabinet, a sewing machine cabinet she could use as a table, 2 gallons of paint, a mattress, pieces of fabric, sheets, school supplies, t-‐shirts and I personally tried to compliment buying her (with my own money) some food and things she needed on a daily basis. I had arranged with Martha we would wait for her at the office and she would ride with us home. We did as planned, got there, unloaded everything and set it up outside her home so we could get a nice picture of all the donated items. You should have seen Martha’s family reaction, they were so happy with everything we provided for them and thanked me and WNP from their hearts for all the support given to them. Their comments were they didn’t know how to pay back and that nobody had done anything like it. Meeting Martha and her family has been such a great pleasure for me and I know for sure WNP has impacted their lives immensely even though we are not given them greatness. Small things like these fill people’s heart enough and Martha is the perfect example. They didn’t ask for anything; however they were conceded with the benefit of receiving all these goods because they really needed them. WNP’s support to this family doesn’t end there, we continue to follow up with them and at the present time we are helping Jose Rosalio to get assistance with the contacts we have at the Lenin Fonseca Hospital in Managua. Jose Rosalio seems to have a prostate problem and needs to be checked, a series of test needs to be done on him to be able to determine if he is going into surgery or not. Having Dr. Rene Morales (WNP Volunteer) as one of main contacts there has been really important in this case, I explained to him who they were and Dr. Morales asked to see Rosalio at the Lenin Fonseca Hospital as soon as possible. I shared the news with Martha and she was in Managua ready to go with her husband two days after. Jose Rosalio was seen by a doctor (Dr. Morales was not available) and was given an order to run a series of tests on him and also has a cardiac evaluation to determine if a surgery on him is possible. Martha is very hopeful he will get better and doesn’t stop thanking WNP for all we are doing for her family. We too are positive he will be better soon and wish him the best! Thank you Amy for supporting me on this project and thanks to all donors who give joy and make dreams come true through all their donations to our organization. Their support is very, very much appreciated by those who are in need in Nicaragua. Don’t stop, let’s continue together changing lives and impacting families less fortunate. Thank you! Mirna Angulo W/NP Managua, Nicaragua