Hello to all. I hope your long weekend was peaceful, safe and restful.
I am writing with some exciting news. First, we are days away from having all the red-tape taken care of to send money to Ely and Nilton for the Chupaca orphans. It took some doing, but my mom has been tirelessly searching the web for a way to send the funds without a large percentage taken up in fees. All the standard ways that we think of are too expensive for small amounts. By Friday it should all be set up and there will be only a few dollars lost as compared to the $40 fee of a standard bank-to-bank wire transfer. Who would have thought it would be so expensive. I guess as Americans we are used to things just working smoothly and assume other places operate the same way. Mom and I can tell you that is not the case. She found much worse conditions in other places she has visited, so she already knows what to expect. I am glad she is doing the legwork on this part, because I ran out of steam after only about 3 inquiries!! 
We are still asking anyone who wants to help to please send a little if you can. Although $5 or $10 sounds like such a small amount and that it would not do any good, you would be surprised. In Peru the dollar is so strong that with just five dollars, Ely could buy one or two pairs of socks, a small toy and maybe even some other nicknack for a kid. It seems unlikely, but it’s true. The dollar goes VERY FAR. I ask you all again, if you can spare just a few dollars (skip Starbucks just once) your few dollars could make a large difference this Christmas for a child. It really is worth it. So far we have just under $100. This is close to the goal I had hoped for, but let’s see how many $5’s we can get for them! If you would like to help but don’t have a PayPal account, reply to this message and I will give you a physical address to send your check. I am closing out on December 10 so that I will be able to get it to Ely in time.
As for Project Presli, I have not really shared this one yet. So before I share the big news, let me give some background: Eleven-year old Presli lives at the Aldea del Rosario in Huancayo, Peru. My mom and I got to know him a bit during the one week that we spent working there teaching English and tutoring in math, chemistry and reading with the orphans who live there. Presli has severe burn scars on his face which make it impossible for him to close his mouth, he has no nostrils and his right eyelid does not work right. He also has extensive scarring on the majority of his face. As he is right now, he is subject to increased risk of respiratory infections, dental and oral problems, his speech is impaired and his peripheral vision is limited on the right side. Presli was born in Lima, Peru. His parents were extremely poor and lived in a small place with no water or electricity. They had to use candles to light their home at night. One night his mother fell asleep with him and woke their home in flames. This happened when Presli was six days old. After a few more children, his parents divorced. His mother remarried, but their home was a violent place. Presli suffered extra abuse at the hands of his step-father who could not handle his deformities. He and his siblings were all removed from the home, but his birth-father did not take Presli with the other kids, since he did not know how to care for him, and he too was abusive to the boy.
Through the work of various people, several years ago Presli was placed in the Aldea del Rosario, where he receives an education, peer support, healthcare, mental health care, life skills, etc. He is in a loving environment where he is truly treated just like any other kid there. However, with his extreme scarring and shocking appearance, I became concerned that once he leaves the orphanage that his life will suddenly become quite harsh. He will not be likely to find a job where his education will be useful. He will most likely end up working at a job that is essentially slave labor, if he can find a job at all, and he will most likely live a quite lonely life in the streets. The health care and dental visits that he has now will end and he may have to brave the winters alone, fending off pneumonia and bronchitis with no medication.
For this reason, my mom and I decided to see what could be done surgically to help him. Our contacts in Huancayo informed us that when he first arrived at the aldea, that some inquiries had been made, but there are no facilities in Huancayo that can help him. That was a dead end for them. When I met Presli, I knew that he could be helped somewhere, somehow. At first my mom and I considered some very grand and lofty ideas of sending him to a surgeon in Lima with a chaperone several times for surgeries, fundraising the monies and paying for what we could ourselves. (Little did we know that these ideas were not quite as lofty as we once thought).
Then mom sent out some emails…..
We had a response yesterday from a surgeon in Sacramento who is the Medical Director of Rotoplast, Inc. Int’l, a group of volunteer surgeons with the Shriners who do just this kind of work. He has taken quite an interest in Presli’s case and mom and I are working with him, Terry & Alison in Oakland, Russell Jenkins in Huancayo and Ely & Nilton on finding out what options are available. Mom has been glued to her computer, finding out some wonderful things that are out there and making contacts with organizations who can help put this project into full swing.
While we have not officially begun to ask for monetary donations from individuals or organizations to help with this project, we know that there are many things that will have to be provided somehow.
This is what we think we will need:
-transportation to the city(ies) where his assessments/surguries/recovery will occur;
-a chaperone for his travels, preferably bilingual in Spanish and English and with medical experience;
-room and board for both of them during their stays, wherever that may be;
-any costs related to the doctor’s visits and the surgeries themselves;
-nursing support while he recovers from each round of surgery;
-physical therapy as he gets used to his newly funcional body parts;
-mental health support to help him deal with these drastic changes;
-and probably more we have not considered.
Mom has found some exciting information on the web about a program with an airline which flies patients such as Presli wherever they need to go for treatments. She has also found an organization who provides chaperones door-to-door. The surgeon we are in contact with is in Sacramento. If we will be bring Presli to his facility for his many surgeries, we would like to have a home that Presli (and the chaperone) may stay in for the few days they are not in the hospital each time. If this home has a Spanish-speaking family, that would be an incredible boon to help Presli adjust the strange new surroundings. Mom has also heard that individulas can donate their airline miles for projects such as this. It seems the possibilities are endless, mostly since these types of things have been happening more and more; there seems to be some stuff already in place. We just have to get the word out as much as possible and know where to look. We are asking at this time if anyone knows of a non-profit/volunteer organization or ministry who can help with any of these things, please let us know as soon as it occurs to you.
I was assuming that we would not even be looking for a surgeon for another year or more. So to have one on board so quickly, even if he is just serving as an advisor, well, that is absolutely amazing. Both mom and I were nearly in tears when we heard that there is already interest.
At some time in the future, we may put out an appeal for monetary donations. This will be far in the future as there are so many things that need to be straightened out first. At this time, we are forwarding photos of Presli to Dr. Capozzi for he and his colleages to review. We will be sending more photos and video of Presli obtained by Terry and Alison and others who are still in Huancayo. The next step would be for an assessment in person. Since I don’t know how long these things take, we could be asking for airline miles or other kinds of help soon or several months from now. We will know much more as Dr. Capozzi guides us in this process.
I was hoping to provide Presli with these surgeries before he was 16. I assumed it would take several years to get underway. It seems that the wheels have been greased by the Great Beyond (insert higher power of choice here). Keep this project in mind as you hear news stories or read in the paper or a magazine of similar happenings. In this type of situation, there is no such thing as Too Much Information! Also, if you have any contacts in the media, please have them contact us. Perhaps we can get the word out to a very large audience and something surprising will fall into our laps!
I will attempt to attach some photos of Presli and his current home to this email. Please let me know if they did not come through.
Have a great week.
December is upon us – drive safe and, if you live in Hawaii, stay out of the sidewalks. 
Lisa
Ely and Nilton are in the process of setting up their own non-profit volunteer organization, as I mentioned above, and in getting all the red-tape out of the way so they can begin as soon as possible. It is called “Peru Luz de Esperanza’.
