There’s someone knocking at the door. She introduces herself as Velkis and says she would like to contribute to publicizing our work. That sounds good. She says that she is in her late twenties and does an administrative job in Juigalpa. Within her Church she’s doing a short course for which she now needs an internship with a relevant organisation. She’d like to do it with Ruach.
She is attracted to us because she had a brother who after months of being ill died of cancer. She herself had an accident after which she had to live with an orthopaedic device for several months and because of that suffered from discrimination. That is the reason why she would like to do something for people with disabilities. She has come to visit us to find out whether we are interested in her working with us.
Of course I submit this request to our forthnightly Board meeting. Luckily the next meeting is only two days away. All Board members are unanimous in our enthusiasm about her and her concrete ideas, which are to publicize our work to a group of young people that meets every week in her parish. She also would like to distribute a flyer after the Mass in the cathedral and to sell piñatas at the exit door.
I phone Velkis to give her the ‘go-ahead’. Her next step is to get in touch with the priest and the youth group of her church.
Velkis is a woman who does what she promises and has got a good network. On Friday I gave a talk for 12 young people about the discrimination that people with intellectual disabilities often have to endure, about everybody’s right to be respected and appreciated, and about the activities of our foundation. The youngsters liked the raffle with a piñata as a prize. After two masses we had already sold 19 piñatas and made a profit of 900 cordobas (about 28 euro) and many people received the flyer about our work. It was lightening action, organized and executed in 10 days and with a positive result. Miracles still exist!