Happy New Year FOPPERS

PNN Pimpollo News Network

01 07 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Dear Friends of Pimpollo Board, Donors, and other FOP Insiders,

We have just completed another amazing year...the 21^st year since my first trip to Oaxaca and Mexico City with Northwest Medical Teams, and March 10^th of the coming year will complete our 11^th year since our first FOP team trip to Pimpollo. By the summer of this coming year we will have Friends of Pimpollo Team number #50!!!

We now serve over 500 impoverished kids and families. I think by the end of 2011 we will have 30 students going to college in our Education Scholarship programs. We are helping out eight schools in the Vicente Guerrero area and we continue to love and support the Pimpollo community in every way we can.

We are very close to those we serve. We know them, we visit them in their homes, we read to them and hold them in our laps. We go to school with them, we eat meals with them, we stay with them, we attend their church services with them, their first communions, and their weddings. We laugh with them, we have traveled with them, and at times we have cried with them.

From the day of the formation of Friends of Pimpollo as a 501c3 Charitable organization we decided on the following five words to describe our VISION:

We are a VOLUNTEER organization. You can add to that “intern.” I am happy to say that we remain a volunteer/intern organization. What that means is a lot of you have put in long hard hours to make this work so 90% plus of our donors contributions go to our projects. Thank you FOPPERS!!! You are amazing. I don’t know how long we can continue to exist as a volunteer/intern organization before we run a handful of volunteers into the ground! Time and future financing will tell the tale.

We are a very PERSONAL organization. We are not a “send money and monitor the results” non-profit. We are a “to know them is to love them” group and we know all of them. We love being with these people we serve and knowing them really motivates us because they are warm, wonderful, fun, and funny and oh so sweet...kind and very humble. They are our teachers.

INCLUSIVE. We are certainly not exclusive. We include members of many different traditions that can practice their own spirituality by helping the very poor through FOP. All who want to serve by serving the poor in a kind and loving way are more than welcome.

RESPECTFUL. We are respectful of all we encounter and the different cultures we work in. Because we respect them we are able to learn from them.

THANKFUL. We appreciate our donors, volunteers, and all the lessons we learn from those we serve. We thank God for the opportunity we have to know and be with these wonderful kids and families. We see it as an incredible privilege.

So these are the five words that direct FOP: Volunteer, Personal, Inclusive, Respectful, and Thankful.

Here is an update: It may be lengthy but I think it is better than yet another meeting. You are all very busy always and especially at this time of year!

1. Matching Funds: We have $16,500 in matching funds that came primarily from the organization of my amazing fraternity brothers, called Our Brothers Keepers. We have donations to match what we call the “OBK Funds” that now exceed $18,000 and more to come. Total take is over $35,000. Without the match I think we would have ended up with something like $10-12,000 from our year end appeal letter.

2. Major Donor Campaign: I am writing up our major donor plan. We will be discussing it at our Development Committee meeting next week. January.

3. Busses: We (Marina) continue to work on getting the busses to Pimpollo. It appears that Padre can come up with the “tax” needed to get them there. We still need to put the details together so we can drive them to the border and hand them off to Padre and co.

4. Pimpollo continues to evolve and as a result so does our child sponsorship program. With Julie’s leadership we are writing a new news letter to address the change in the Pimpollo population and the expansion of the program to include dupporting our college kids or Vicente Guerrero kids. More to come.

Thanks everyone for your great effort in 2010 on behalf of these great kids and families. The work is so very worthwhile and we can make a huge difference in these communities. The best if yet to come.

God bless you and your family!

juan

More About Rosalba...

More about Rosalba...December 30, 2010

In our year end letter it was my pleasure to write you all about a girl named Rosalba. She and her family are a wonderful story of perusing dreams under difficult circumstances...at least circumstances that seem very difficult to me!

In 2011 we hope to post the stories of most of the kids in our education/scholarship program. By year end 2011, if all goes well, we could have more that 30 kids in our program. Eventually I hope we can help 100 kids but that is a ways off, but possible. These are very poor kids that have been put in front of us. They need a little help...usually between $100-300 per month although our law school student Chely is about $350 per month. They are good students and we haven’t had one who flunked out of school. I don’t think there is any risk that these kids won’t take advantage of the opportunity.

We are requiring a monthly report and a way to keep track of them (like living with a family or living in one of our three student houses in Chiapas). They don’t need straight “A” to be included but they do need a strong desire for further education. Also, we aren’t interested in educating kids who want to use that to come to the US or leave their communities. We are interested in students who want to help in their own community...that is the idea.

For those of you who would like to know more about these kids, soon you will be able to go to my blog (johnjuan@blogspot.com) or on the Friends of Pimpollo web site (friendsofpimpollo.org). It is our intension to update these stories when we visit these students in their homes in the spring and fall.

One thing I like about using my blog or the FOP website is I can write whatever comes to my heart and I don’t have to worry about how long the article is (brevity not being my strong suit) and you can choose to read it or not. I hope you do because their stories are “so compelling” as my fraternity brother /childhood friend Larry says. I know them all personally and they are just great kids and each one is so worthy of our help.

I am going to repeat the stuff I wrote about Rosalba in our year end letter later in this article and add other information we have about her and her family.

So here we go with “More About Rosalba”...Rosalba Regina Ambrosio Juarez.

She lives with her mom, Regina Felicita Juarez, and sister Sara, in Vicente Guerrero, where the garbage dump is, 20 minutes outside of Oaxaca City.

Their home has dirt floors, tin walls, no running water, no sewage system as we know it, and minimal, if any, electricity. Regina cleans houses in Oaxaca City and makes $200 per month and this is the family income as her father has problems with alcoholism and doesn’t contribute anything to the family. There is an older brother who is married and lives elsewhere and he helps at times but it isn’t much.

Sister Sara also likes school and is doing well. She has one more year of secondary school before she goes on to high school. We are encouraging her to persist with her education. We want to make it possible for both Rosalba and Sara to continue.

Next store to the Ambrosio Juarez family lived two sisters that I have known for 15 years or so. Karina and Mago Santiago. Recently these two and Mago’s two small kids lost their home. Basically, they were abandoned by their mom (not the first time) and ended up unable to pay the rent and thus homeless. The Ambrosio Juarez family, despite their meager circumstances, had some space and took them in. Karina, a middle school student and a pretty good student dropped out of school in order to work and help feed Mago and her kids. That is another story I will write about soon. Karina should be in school.

Through it all, Rosalba just completed her first semester of Civil Engineering at the university in Oaxaca City with the equivalent of a 3.6 grade point average! It isn’t easy however and there isn’t always enough food. However, this family prioritizes education!!!

Rosalba gets up at 5:00 am, takes the bus into the city, takes another to the university, has only bread and coffee for breakfast, and many days has little else to eat until she returns home at 4:30 pm. She isn’t complaining. On the other hand she is motivated to continue. This amazing family knows what it is like to be hungry but they have the faith to take in their homeless neighbors and do whatever is necessary to keep Rosalba and Sara in school. Rosalba's mom Regina is a saint in my opinion, and more importantly in the opinion of her daughters...unfortunately her husband is an alcoholic, is of no help, and is separated from the family. This family needs our help in the form of a scholarship for Rosalba.

The most impressive part of the interview that we conducted with Rosalba was her response to this question: “It is obviously difficult for all of you. Why don’t you get a job, like so many others in Vicente Guerrero, in order to help your family?”

Her response was positive and without hesitation and sealed the deal for us.

Rosalba said, “I need to get my degree and become a Civil Engineer and get a very good job so I can truly help my family. If I get a job now without finishing school I won’t make enough money to change things for my mom, and I will be frozen at that level for the rest of my life. I am doing this for my mom because she has done everything for me.”

Gulp. It was an emotional moment for me and my friend Jorge who was with me...and Rosalba. She went on firmly, “I need to finish and get my degree in Civil Engineering and get a good job. I want to be a professional; a civil engineer.” We were so impressed by her vision, the clarity of it, and her purpose. To be honest we were blown away by her.

Other information about Rosalba:

She tries to find work when she has any free time...She loves to read novels...she loves music and is learning to play the guitar...she has household responsibilities to help her mom when she can but she has a lot of homework. “Civil engeneering is very difficult”, she says.

Rosalba is a good representative of the 24 kids we are now supporting in pursuing their dreams of higher education. Including her, we have seven students we would like to add to our program.

These kids have academic dreams and truly deserve the opportunity to go to school.

Thank you everyone for all your encouragement. On the 15th of July I will be 9 months post op and I would like to turn this blog back to the original intent which wasn't really all about me! That is one of the things that happened to me with this big time somewhat scary procedure; not only thinking about my health like never before (like all the damn time) but with doctor's appointments lots of those!), medical tests and exams, weekly blood tests, naps, stress reduction/meditations stuff, work outs, lots of sleeping, there is less time for other things. My communications on may fronts have been terrible...I hope I can do better and I think I can.

I don't like these naps because they make me feel groggy and I feel worse than before but sometimes I can't do without them. I think they are way over-rated and I have already started eliminating them. I prefer a good two cup coffee buzz but I am not suppose to do that, however, I am cheating a little and my motto is nobody's prefect. Even my doctor admits that life is better with caffeine. I do half-caf and not much of that.

The other two big problems have been no peanut butter and no guacamole, but no worries...I just cheat on that along with the only one glass of wine rule. Remember the motto.

I work out like a madman at times and probably overdo it a bit and I know when, like yesterday, I could hardly crawl out of bed at 8:15 and I don't get a good few cups of coffee so it is hardly worth getting up anyway...but I do at some point. Jeez, you gotta have some sympathy for Karen..she is living with a self absorbed slug and I used to be so cool.

Two days ago I did my first yoga class. If that gets on U-Tube I am done. I have never felt so uncoordinated and awkward in my life. Right next to me is this really cute Asian girl. Why did they put her next to me? Needless to say she is very flexible, coordinated and graceful and of course young. Disgusting... When we were getting ready for the class and stretching a bit and I was trying to lean over and touch below my knees some where she bent over and put her elbows on the floor. And she was really nice and smiling at me like "really this is easy and you are pretty funny!" And I am right in front of the stage where the graceful, smiling, super strong and flexible Yoga instructor is and THEY HAVE HUGE MIRRORS ALL AROUND THE ROOM and it looks to me that I am by far the most noticeable one. And by far the stiffest, most awkward, uncoordinated person in the history of this class. We were doing upward dog and downward dog and I felt like I was doing fire hydrant dog at best. It was not pretty. However, I think it will be beneficial and I will persist but I am not sure this is the class for me. I am looking for Yoga for Dummies.

All in all I am doing great, thanks, and I feel so grateful (no, not graceful...grateful.) The episode taught me how wonderful you all are...that was the really good part of it. That is what I learned from the experience. Karen and my family and all of you have been amazing and I feel healed by your caring and thoughtfulness. Thank you.

And now on to other things with this blog!

Thanks again!

John

On the Way...

Thank you everybody for all the support...the prayers, good thoughts, visits, calls, emails, cards etc. Thank you for every one of them. Durring the most difficult days you sustained me and my family. Your love and support was very humbling and the wonderful good part that came out of a difficult time. Thanks.



Thank you Kraig, Lesie, Kenzie and Brendan. Thank you Jerr, Kelley, Davis (Little Fellah)and Gracie. Thank you Kalie, Adam, Montana, and Savana and especially Karen. Karen has been amazing and it has not been easy. We had a chance to show what family is all about and I think we did wonderfully well. Thank you. I am so appreciate and so proud of you all.



So here I am so dang happy to be home. It is day 11 at home and day 18 post op.



My first walk on day one at home was 7 minutes at the slowest pace possible and I needed a nap afterwords. Today I will do two 20 minute walks at 3 mph pace. Still slow but a major improvement. This is encouraging! This is my primary objective each day.



I got derailed for a few days with a urinary track infection. I was getting up every hour and it was wiping me out. Perhaps it is not entirely gone out of my system now but it is much better and I am only getting up 3-4 times per night which has dramitically increased my energy level. Another positive.



I started today to get back to the Friends of Pimpollo activities by starting to go through a few hundered emails. I am excited to be back in that game. Some great stuff happened while I have been out if it and I am so appeciate and thankful for those who keep it rolling. Thanks Lizzie, Julie, Monica, Cecelia, Greg, Vicki, Devin, and Sandy who are involved on a daily basis. My apologies for those I might have not included.

Thanks Kraig, Deb and Christie for takin' care of business for me.

When I woke up this morning thinking about Elvia and her family, one of our student/families in Vicente Guerrero with challanges much greater than mine, instead of my challanges, I thought "Dude, you are on the way to getting better."

I hope to write another blog about the bypass/hospital experience. Funny stuff and not so funny stuff happens when you are having by-pass surgery. It is a great thing to avoid if you can and most of us can avoid it if we start young enough. More on that later.

Thank you again everybody from the bottom of my new aorta, new valve, new LAD artery, heart. I love you all and it is your support that got me through this. Gracias,

john

He's Home!!!!

It was too funny! What could make John more ready to come home than a lunch tray featuring
macaroni and cheese as the main entree?! Those of you who have known John for a long time know that John can hardly be in the same room with macaroni and cheese. It all came about when he was in St. Mary's grade school in Eugene and the nuns were giving him the eagle eye about eating all his lunch. When they weren't looking, our John boy quickly scraped his mac and cheese under the table, and then quickly put his empty plate back on the table. The only problem was that the mac and cheese ended up on his good buddy Roger Herring's shoes. It must have been the deciding moment, as John has seriously sworn off mac and cheese ever since. We couldn't even get him to try the fabulous apple macaroni and cheese served at the top of a mountain in Switzerland which was famous for their apple mac and cheese. He had a turkey sandwich instead!
Anyway, John was discharged from Good Samaritan yesterday. My brother, Kent, and John's sister, Toni, picked up from the airport by cousin George Miller, and daughter Betsy Miller were there to see John and then helped carry things to the car and get John on board. The checking out process is quite detailed, with lots of education for aftercare, arrangements for home health care, and follow appointments to be made for his rehab program and Coumadin maintenance, which will be done at Shapes at Salem Hospital.
John wanted a "real" lunch, and mentioned a bean burrito. We went to the Matador Restaurant on 23rd, joined by Kent, Toni, and our buddy Dave Davis, who has been such an amazing friend through this. John was so pumped to get out of the hospital; it felt like a party!
Toni followed us down to Salem, and after getting John settled in the recliner, Toni stayed with him while I went to get his prescriptions filled and do a marathon heart healthy grocery shopping. John immediately crashed to sleep, but was up and reading the blog comments and e-mails of good wishes on his computer when I came back.
The hospital sent him home with a walker (which drew some funny comments from brother Jim...**see below). John is still a little unsteady on his feet from everything. I made a bed for him on the couch for the night,, and, after watching a little TV, we called it a very big day. He is so happy to be home, and is anxious to be able to walk on the treadmill. He promises me he won't overdo it, but knowing him, that might be a challenge. I suppose his body will give him the message if he is trying to do too much.
The people at Good Sam were amazing. John received such excellent care, and all of his nurses were so kind......just terrific! If one has to be hospitalized, Good Sam would be the place! For the family and visiting friends, the location with all of the fabulous restaurants within a short walking distance was great. Also, the beautiful fall colors on all the tree lined streets were just breathtaking. I really love the fall anyway, but this was especially gorgeous, and the air was almost balmy.
John had really turned the corner on Tuesday and Wednesday after getting rid of most of the nausea. He still has a little from time to time, and his heart is still having some a-fib, but that should be able to be controlled with medication in a fairly short while. Our nurse said she thinks of the fibrillation as the heart's temper tantrum from being messed with during surgery. I'm not sure exactly why it happens, but apparently it is not uncommon. We hope it goes away soon.
Anyway, he is definitely on his way, and we think he will have a very good recovery.
**While John was going through this, brother Jim was sick with the swine flu. After both brothers were feeling better, Toni and Beth sent Jim a money card with two brand new dollar bills saying that they realized Jim was feeling a little neglected, what with his making up this nasty business about having the swine flue..ha ha. But they assured him he was still their "cute little guy". Jim, we are glad you are feeling better and, while we're not sending money, we really were concerned about you too. Thanks for your calls through all of this, when you could barely talk you were so sick.
I am officially turning the continuation of this blog back over to John, who won't bother you with a daily account, but will let you know how he is doing from time to time. I know he will continue to enjoy and be encouraged by your comments back to him. Thanks so much for your steadfast care, prayers, and words of encouragement. We are so very grateful. Love, Karen

What A Difference A Day Makes.....

I was "checking out" of the Bailey's condo this morning and John called me from his cell phone.
He sounded like he was calling from his office; his voice was all regular and strong, and his sense of humor was coming through. He had been awake since 6:00 a.m., had eaten half of an egg white omelet, and walked around the hall with his nurse. He told her she reminded him of Nurse
Rachett (and he didn't even know I had referred to her that way in the blog...our minds must run along the same track). Anyway, he said she didn't seem to appreciate it. He thought for a minute that she would make him walk around the hall for a second lap! She had a little smile and was good natured when he told me about her morning regiment. She sat and talked to us about some of what to expect when he goes home, diet, etc. (She didn't know about his Well Spring experience, and all he learned there.)
John's nausea was not entirely gone, but the change in medication had helped through the night, and he felt so much better. He asked me to bring his glasses as he wanted to possibly do some reading. It felt good to him to even have an interest in doing something besides just laying in bed. He is still quite unsteady on his feet, and the occupational therapist came by after lunch to
work with him and discuss his post surgery recovery program. He will most likely do that in Salem somewhere. She must have done a good job putting him through the paces. I had a small errand to run, and when I came back, he was so sound asleep I couldn't wake him.
I drove to Salem for a birthday party for my dear friend Brada. I wouldn't have missed it , but knowing John was feeling so much better made it more comfortable to leave. I am staying in Salem for the night, checking on Kitty, opening the accumulated mail, and going back tomorrow afternoon.
At this point, if he is walking better and his heart stays in rhythm (which has been a bit of a problem which the doctors say is not unusual after such a big surgery), and if he continues to be able to eat and keep the nausea at bay, he may be able to come home Thursday or Friday.
The doctors said they do not want to rush it, but I know John will be glad to be home.
Many wishes from lots of friends at Brada's party and cards in the mail and your comments on this blog will all be delivered/read to John tomorrow....now that he's feeling better. Thanks again for your support. We feel your prayers and love. Cheers! Karen

How to Post a Comment

Hey everyone - Kalie here.
So I changed the settings to that anybody can post a comment. I know that Dad loves this, so please write if you feel inclined to do so! Where is says "Comment as", select "Name/URL" as your profile type. Then type your name and IF you want to also include your email address - you can enter that in the "URL" field. Or leave it blank.
Happy blogging.