|
Monthly Appeal - April 2010 |
|
|
Dear Pan y Amor Sponsor,
 During my visit in January to Cochabamba, Bolivia, it was my privilege to visit the staff and the children at the Madre de Dios Home for Children, which means Mother of God. While we were there it was a joy to see again a little girl that I was able to meet last year that Sister Mary Elba had introduced me to. This child’s name is Lourdés. She is now 6 years old, a first grader and has been blind from birth.
Lourdés has been living at this home now for a little more than a year. The sad part of Sister Mary Elba’s update on Lourdés was that her mother is not interested in having an operation for her to help her recover her sight, because the mother would then lose a small bonus that the Bolivian Government pays to families of those who are completely visually impaired.
 While we were there, it was a joy to greet Lourdés, and we were able to talk with her briefly. The pictures that you see involved other children that were in the room along with us. She is a very happy child, and the hope of Sister Mary Elba and other staff members is that they can have an operation worked out for her, perhaps in Lima, Peru in the future, so that Lourdés might be able to recover her sight.
I can certainly identify with Lourdés’ problems. Recently I experienced a detached retina in my only seeing eye. I lost the sight in my left eye when I was a missionary in Bolivia from a racquetball injury. This past February, as a result of an automobile accident that I suffered, my retina detached and has been surgically repaired, but it has been a long process for recovering my vision. At this moment, I still have limited vision.
 So, I ask your prayers for my own recovery of sight, and certainly prayers for Lourdés. It is thanks to you and other benefactors that she and other children that are being cared for receive the love and support that they desperately need.
May God bless you with Joy and Peace during this Easter Season.
Gratefully in Our Lord,
Monsignor Francis X. Blood
Director, Pan y Amor
|
Monthly Appeal