A generous sum

Unexpected gifts received by those who, every day, care for the most fragile in a small town in the Peruvian Amazon.

“We have money until the end of the month”.  With this message, Javier Varela shares the monthly report with friends of the Hogar, the “Chiara Lubich Home for the Elderly,” located in Lámud in the Peruvian Amazon. In which he is in charge of administration and his wife Jenny coordinates direct care for the elderly.

The message, as one can easily guess, is troubling because the nursing home has no one to fund it; it is running and sustained only by God’s providence manifested through many friendly hands and hearts. But Jenny and Javier’s faith is disarming and contagious.

Soon after, Javier shares another message: “Rafael, one of the grandparents present at the Hogar, is not well. He has been intubated with oxygen. Jenny is on her way to Chachapoyas, (capital of the Amazon region 36 km from Lámud where the Hogar is located) To get him urgently to the hospital. Hopefully they won’t have to stay overnight, it would also be very challenging for Jenny’s health. God will provide!”.

Meanwhile, Jenny signs the authorization for Rafael to be taken immediately to the Lámud Health Center (so that they can administer oxygen to him). “I was left alone in the kitchen, pondering how to proceed – Jenny says -.  I noticed that tears were beginning to flow down my cheeks. I said to Jesus, ‘What do you want from me? Help me and suggest to me what I should do’. It is powerful to know that Jesus hears your miseries, your struggles, and that in Him you can abandon all worries. All the while, my cell phone had been ringing, ringing… I would have been asked to go and sign the declaration to become his guardian, which I would have liked to avoid. As I walked to the Health Center, a nurse called me to tell me that they had already contacted Rafael’s relative and that he was waiting for his nephew at the hospital in Chachapoyas. I felt great relief, although at no time did I hesitate to accept God’s will, whatever it was.”

Shortly after, all was resolved: Rafael was gradually stabilized and Jenny was able to accompany him to the hospital in Chachapoyas, where she met the elderly man’s grandson, to whom she handed over his papers and a bag of clothes. Jenny is thus able to return home “tired, but calm and grateful for all that had been experienced….”.

But it doesn’t end there: while they were taking care of Rafael’s health and the other elderly people in the Hogar House, God took care of them, sending the Providence they so desperately needed.

“Someone very dear to me – Javier narrates  – told us that the financial aid request we had made together two months earlier had been accepted. It was wonderful to meet this person; I saw in him a true brother. He showed me the letter from the institution we had approached asking for help and the generous amount they sent us”.

Jenny and Javier decided to share some of what they had received with the sisters of the Chachapoyas nursing home.

Gustavo E. Clariá