Thank you, Lord, for my 100 years, says the sign above Alfredo. He sits in a yellow and green hammock strung across the open shelter made of rough boards and old tin. Behind him hangs a dark red embroidered blanket, partially hiding a lumpy mattress on cement blocks.
Alfredo is 102 now. His wife Rufina is 100. She lies on a wooden wicker bed under a blue mosquito net, partitioned off by a hanging canvas. Rufina can’t see or walk.
A rooster struts across the packed dirt floor, and dark- eyed children and a few women watch curiously. It’s hard to tell who is a neighbor and who lives here, but we learn that Alfredo and Rufina’s 50-year-old single son Santos takes care of them, and a niece also lives with them.
Normally when their CAM food parcel arrives, Santos goes out to the main road with his bicycle to bring it home, since the road is too narrow for the delivery truck. Today we’ve brought it with a smaller truck, so we can visit.
“Most of what we get to eat is what comes in the food parcel,” Santos says.
Santos suffers from a hernia, which limits his ability to work. He raises avocados to sell when they are in season and grows corn in their garden. But this family in rural Nicaragua lives with well under $2 a day.
“Thanks to our all-powerful God and the brothers that send us the food parcel. We’re very thankful,” Santos testifies.
They are one of about 750 families that benefit from CAM’s Nicaragua-Adopt-A-Family program each month. We work closely with national pastors to select the neediest members of their congregations.
As we leave 102-year-old Alfredo’s house, he adds his blessing, “I hope that you will live well. I’m glad you came to visit.”
Please click below to give a one-time gift or start a monthly sponsorship.
