A Lesson in Abundance

Of the 168 days I’ve been working as DHF’s Field Program Manager, Friday was by far the best day of this entire experience. Literacy is one of the pillars of the plus side of microcredit. Currently we have 10 students who religiously attend class once a week in the hope of learning how to sign their name, read short stories, and complete simple addition and subtraction problems. In May of this year, our literacy teacher, Lily Perez, brought to my attention that almost all of our students were having difficulty advancing due to a single problem—poor vision. Being the problem solver that I am, I began to ask around Cajamarca about any vision campaigns, prescription glasses donations, or reduced rate vision tests to get our women help. With no luck, I decided to try one last place. When Maggie visited the project in April of this year she stayed at a beautiful hostal called Los Jazmines. The owners are German and have spent over two decades helping Cajamarquinos receive medical attention and services to improve their health. With my heart heavy, I visited Los Jazmines and shared our situation with the head receptionist, Miss Lucy. About half way through my story, Lucy interrupted me and mentioned that two years ago Los Jazmines had organized a massive vision campaign and box of reading and prescription glasses was leftover. After a few phone calls, Lucy shared the good news… the hostel was donating more than 300 pairs of glasses to our cause! All I wanted were 10 pairs and now I was receiving 3oo! So on Friday we tested our literacy circle students from Tartar Chico for their first pair of glasses. It was an amazing experience to see the women’s reaction as they were finally seeing for the first time in years. This was the first time in my life that I asked for something and in return received so much abundance. This Friday our second literacy circle, which meets in the Hope House, will be tested for their glasses. I’ll be sure to include more pictures.

 ~Des