You May Feel Like You Are One Person In the world; but you Are The World, to one person!
We see the situation. We evaluate the situation. We find the best solution, find the money and act - usually this all occurs within two-days. (read How We Help for more information).
How does even a small donation change the world? Let me tell you a story.
We were about to leave the colonias at the end of a long day. Elias noticed that we had one more bag of groceries in the truck as we bounced down the dirt road.
"Just pick a house and we'll drop it off. Then I must head back to San Antonio." I said. We stopped the truck, looked up and down the street and I pointed to a house. "There. Let's give it to that family."
A lady came to the door and Elias explained that we were Americans and had a gift of 'dispensa' for the house. He explained that we were trying to learn about the colonias by visiting families.
The lady smiled and invited us into her small home. We shook hands with her husband, explained our purpose, and glanced around the house. It was very small, typically neat and the only thing out of place was the little boy sitting in the bed. His legs were painfully thin and he could not walk.
We asked about the boy. His parents exchanged looks and then his mother answered.
"This is my son, Sergio. He is 5-years old and was born this way. Nothing can be done."
The little boy smiled at us. We asked more questions and learned that every day Sergio's mother dressed him for school, picks him up in her arms, and carries him to the school bus. She climes on the bus and sits Sergio on her lab. When the bus arrives at school, she carries Sergio into the kindergarten and sits him at his desk. At the end of the school day, Sergio's mother walks to the school, lifts him from his chair, boards the school bus and brings him home.
I asked what the doctors say about his situation and hoped for a cause of Sergio's situation. The mother and father hung their heads and said,'We are just little people. Then don't tell us anything."
We've heard this expression before. This is how many poor people, the people at the bottom, describe themselves: ' we are little people.'
Elias and I explained more about Paper Houses Across the Border. We told the parents that we might be able to help their child and would gladly pay to have the child examined at the private hospital downtown. We told them that sometimes the private doctors are able to help children like Sergio and that if he can be helped, Paper Houses will gladly pay every expense.
The mother asked, "Do we need to join a church of something?"
Elias relied, "No. All you have to do is bring him to the hospital. I can pick you up in the morning. If the doctor finds a way to make things better, you only need to agree to follow the doctor's instructions and the people in America will take care of the expenses."
Sergio's parents exchanged looks and then eyed us suspiciously. His mother looked at me and asked, "Who told you about my son?"
We explained that we had been spending the day giving bags of groceries to the people and found that we still had one more bag and randomly chose her house. His mother responded, "Senors, I saw you driving down the street in your black truck. You passed many houses and stopped right in front of mine. You came directly to my house. Who sent you?"