Moving tomorrow...
Trip Start
Jun 16, 2005
1
4
46
Trip End
Aug 2006
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Saturday, July 2, 2005
It's been an interesting few days; they finally changed the lock on the front door of the church, which is absolutely exciting! It is now possible for me to move into the church, even if my apartment isn't finished. I can sleep on the floor, there is a functioning toilet and 2 sinks, and I can borrow showers from neighbors if that's not done by the time I move in (tomorrow). Casa Concordia is being fumigated (ants), so everyone has to be out; there is a really large medical team coming on Sunday, so there's just no space for me. This is good, actually, because it has forced the workers to get those few necessities done so that I can sleep there (they wanted to do all the superficial stuff first - like I have bedroom walls, but no shower). It's coming along quickly, though; I hear Amy's apartment took a couple of months to finish last year!
A changed lock!!!
I spent Wednesday painting, and Julio, Marci's oldest son, and Arjenis, who lives across the way, were a great help. We got all the walls done that could have been done, which meant that I didn't need to be in Pavas to work for the rest of the week and could take care of some more planning stuff.
Thursday I showed a new arrival around San Jose. Her name is Diana and she will be staying here a month to learn Spanish; after that, she'll be heading to seminary in Austin, TX. She's a lot of fun, and we got to go to the market and check out an art gallery.
Last night before Bible study I was approached by a member of the congregation, Veronica, who is really down and out; her husband is leaving her with a three-year-old and a six-month-old, and Heidi had left some Enfamil for me to give to her (Heidi is now in the States visiting family, and Marco and Johann will follow on Tuesday). She found it difficult to ask for help, and of course I am very limited in the amount of money I can give, because if I aided everyone in the community who had financial troubles there would be no more program. I gave her 2000 colones, which is about US$4, and afterward I found out from Jennifer that it happened to be around the amount of money she needed to make rent this month
Argenis the...
. Marco took her to the grocery store after Bible study because she had no food left.This is the first time I've been approached directly by someone I know to be honestly without anywhere else to turn, and I don't have the resources to do anything about it. Neither do Heidi and Marco, because they just loaned money to another member to help them buy their land (naturally buying is better than renting; if you have nothing else, at least you have a place to live). Handouts are not what people need, but Veronica has no ability to make ends meet; if she were working 18 hours a day as a maid, which is what a lot of the women here do, who would care for her children?
She wants to teach VBS, so I'm hoping that if she's good at it, perhaps I might be able to have the church employ her as another teacher in my after-school program. I don't have enough money to pay her outright (though I could supplement a little), but it might be a way to ensure she at least has some way to make ends meet. I'm also thinking about having a recital in Rohrmoser, which is a nearby wealthy district that has a German-speaking Lutheran church that has been in participation with Jesus Nuestro Refugio. Though, again, handouts are not best, perhaps this would be a way to ensure she has some sort of cushion to dip into when times are hard
Berta and Wesley
.It's hard to see this, especially when I know I'm in a country with pretty good social programs (health care, education, a great literacy rate, etc.). However, there are always people who slip through the cracks in any system, and that means that those people either fall or are able to find or be found by creative and effective non-government programs. The question is: are we creative and effective enough to help Veronica?
Today, Jennifer and I got some errands done, and I got to see the seminary here (she was registering for classes) and some other, new parts of the city. My Spanish is getting better, and I'm getting a lot more confident in my knowledge. I even ordered a mattress today, and it's going to be delivered on Monday!
I hope all of you are doing well!
Love,
Elizabeth
