Every joint and muscle ached today and I thought immediately of my cousin Lucky and her children and how we share everything in my family, including horrible, miserable one-day flus. Nonetheless, “No hay mal que por bien no venga,” there isn’t a bad that doesn’t come for a good reason. And, sure enough, I watched all the donations alerts on my cellphone as I ambled around town imagining myself on a stretcher or on a heavy dose of pain killers to make the joints stop aching. If I had the sound of a one Quetzal coin dropping into a glass bottle, it would have clinked incessantly today. A smile was plastered on my face.
By the end of the day the race was won: we had reached our $3,200 goal! Even though our Paypal thermometer says we have $ 3,035 of $3,200 raised – some people sent checks directly to our account – we couldn’t figure out how to add them. Yes, you read it correctly, today we have reached the much anticipated goal of $3,200. Thank you all – friends, family and good samaritans – for being so generous and amazing! It has moved us, but more than anything is has created a fabric of trust, love and support that often is not something we feel in Guatemala when faced with poverty and the hardships of surmounting it alone. Monday I will see Tio Nefta and show him the list of people who supported him. He’ll laugh that shy grin of his and comb out his graying chin beard. Karol? Karolina!
Later in the I day called my grandmother immediately. She was flabbergasted. Nunca pensaba que esto fuera posible, mija. I never thought this was possible. That lasted for about two minutes and then she moved on to address what was missing. But what about the plaster and paint for the house? It’ll make it last longer. While I take great measures to shield myself from the persistent pessimism of my family and how they find fault with everything and distrust anything that might present a solution, this statement did bring up a good point: Stefan of ConstruCasa had also informed us that if we plastered and painted the house it would last longer in that harsh climate that characterizes Media Luna. But, would it be fair to ask for another $269-$306.25 to paint and plaster the house? What of the extra cost for digging the well for the bathroom or other added costs that might come up?
After much thought, we have, therefore, raised the end goal for the fundraising to $3,600. The show will still go on on Monday, September 20, but please feel free to keep contributing if you want to see his house painted!
To reassure me that we’re doing the right thing with the right people for the person that needs it most, I received Stefan’s awesome email with all this information:
The final blueprint of the final house:
Here’s our list of materials to build the house:
And here is our contract, notice the $3,300:
Damn- they added another $100? Highway robbery I tell ya! (Just kidding Stephen if you’re reading 😉
COOL BABY!!!