Category Archives: Christmas/La Navidad

Progress on a House

Bless you, everyone! 32 donors have chipped in 62,510 pesos plus donated ten sacks of cement, a cart of gravel, and two doors for our house for Juan Manuel! We also have a couple who have volunteered to help with finishing up the house once it’s built. Our sincere hope is to have it ready for Juan Manuel and his father by Christmas.

As I told you in my previous update, I noticed that the plans they originally submitted to us were for a very basic room and nothing more: no windows, doors or roof, no bathroom or kitchen sink or plumbing. Obviously they will not have sewage, but they can run basic electrical and also get water from a hose. The builder then drew the above basic plan.

That initial builder has gone AWOL, but it has actually been a blessing as we have an architect who has volunteered his time to design a cinder block room, updating the basic outlines above, rather than a room using the more expensive brick. Going forward we will be able to use this architectural design for other basic rooms/homes for other families as we see extreme need.

In the meantime, the pair have had to move to a new rental home, because the owner of the house I photographed them in has returned to Mazatlán. They are most anxious to move into a new room of their home and save on rent, so they can purchase diapers for Juan Manuel as well as much-needed medicines.

Bless you for your help! Please send good energy that the architect produces good plans quickly, and the new builder does his job well and speedily. We will of course pay the builder only as work is completed, and we will buy supplies directly to protect the money you have generously shared. Fingers crossed I will be able to show you photos of groundbreaking soon!

Additional money received will go towards making this very simple home the best it can be. Once building gets close to finished we may ask you for donations of basic appliances, mattress, lighting, roofing, etc. that you might have extra and are willing to part with. So, please let your friends and neighbors know about this project and hopefully we will have a wonderful Christmas present for Juan Manuel and Don Rodrigo soon!

Blessed holiday season, Dianne

Update on “A Home for Juan Manuel”

Juan Manuel Tovar Valdez

You rock! Bless you all! Thanks to your generosity we have met the budget we received from Juan Manuel and his father for a new home! But we are not done yet; please read through and do what you can. 

We have had 22 parties donate to the “Build a Home for Juan Manuel” project thus far. One person donated the 10 bags of cement and the cart of gravel, and another couple offered to help install flooring and light fixtures and help paint. You are generous! We have spoken to the albañil and are hoping he will start construction soonest. We plan to pay him directly with your kind gifts.

However, as is typical, the budget we received did not include a roof, windows, doors, flooring, toilet or sink, plumbing, paint, etc. So, we would like to raise some additional money to actually complete the house for these very deserving and wonderful men. I’d also really like to be able to build them a second room, so they’re not smooshed all day and night into one 2m x 3m room, even though they say they are ok with it.

If you could help us out by sharing the original article to your social networks with your personalized request for assistance, I believe we will be able to do this. Also, please let your friends and neighbors know so this can be a community effort. I have added an easy way for people in Canada to join in; see the payment options in the original post. If you have used but servicable windows, doors, sink, toilet, etc., we would welcome your donation! 

If you or someone you know has access to construction materials, that’s great. 

Thank you! Blessed holidays to all!

Perfect Antidote to the Pandemic!

Juan Manuel Tovar Valdez

Today I met one of the kindest, happiest and most inspirational people I’ve met in eons. I’ve also figured out how to make this Christmas merry. My hope is that you will choose to join with Yolanda Medina (from the Chicken Breakfast and DIF) and me to help Juan Manuel Tovar Valdez and his father, Rodolfo in a project we are calling, “A Home for Juan Manuel.”

Juan Manuel is a 34-year old young man who smiles from ear to ear. Diabetic since birth (he was diagnosed at two years of age), his health took a huge turn for the worse three years ago. Training as a graphic designer, his heart broke when he began to lose his sight. Renal failure then took one of his legs. Now legally blind in both eyes and walking on one leg with crutches, there is a joyful glint in Juan Manuel’s eyes and his words are all upbeat. “The sun feels so good on my face! It’s really nice to be outside in the fresh air,” he told me as he stood, masked and on crutches, this afternoon in front of the home the father and son rent in Pradera Dorada. 

DIF Certificate of Disability

Cute, colorful government-built concrete townhomes from the outside, there isn’t much inside: a sitting room, bedroom where both men sleep, and a kitchen/bath. Their main furniture is a plastic patio table and two chairs. Rodolfo, 63 years of age, normally sells funeral services door to door. COVID-19 has put a stop to that, and he finds it increasingly difficult to buy the diapers and medicines that Juan Manuel needs, in addition to food and rent. Juan Manuel’s mother died from breast cancer 21 years ago. Their younger son, married with two children, lives nearby and contributes money to his brother and father every Saturday. But it’s not enough. They pay 1200 pesos/month rent, and receive 1300 pesos/month disability plus 500 pesos/month from DIF. “We have been gifted a vacant lot in Colonia San Antonio. There, if we build a simple room to live in, we won’t have to pay rent. The savings will help so much!” Rodolfo tells me. Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

Rodolfo has been working for months to pay the electric and water bills on the new lot, so that as soon as he can get the funds together, the pair can build a 6-meter by 3-meter (194 square feet) room to live in. “But, Don Rodolfo, here now you have a home with a bedroom, living room and kitchen. Why do you want to build a much smaller home?” “Because we can’t keep paying rent. I can’t do that and pay the bills. Now that we have been gifted a lot on which to build, that’s the wiser choice for us going forward.”

CFE Payments
Water Payments
The new lot

Meeting Juan Manuel today brought me so much joy! How can I be frustrated with being shut inside when this young man—with his whole life ahead of him—had the professional skills he worked so hard for robbed from him, his eyesight and his leg taken, and he’s still happy? “I love to draw. I can draw in every medium except paint; I never mastered that. And I love baseball. I played center field. Now I’m a passionate fan, listening on the radio.” 

 

My personal hope is that you all will be so generous that Juan Manuel and Don Rodolfo will be able to build a home bigger than 18 square meters. Fortunately building a simple home here is very reasonably priced. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to help. Reality is that the father and son will be over the moon happy with their new room. “We already have electricity, and I’ve been paying our share of water to Maestra Zulema in Colonia San Antonio. In our room we can have a small kitchen as well as a bath. We can live and sleep in the same room,” Rodolfo explained to me. 

Yolanda has worked to obtain a list of the materials and labor needed to build the one-room home. If you are able and see fit, won’t you donate to help these men out?

“A Home for Juan Manuel” Budget

1500 Bricks ($2800 millar)

$4200

15 Kilos of annealed wire ($40/kg)

$525

Bags of mortar ($150/each)

$3000

10 Bags of cement ($195/each)

$1950

1 Cart of sand

$1900

1 Cart of gravel (6 meters)

$2000

10 Pieces concrete reinforcement mesh ($170)

$1700

30 x 3/8 rods ($130/each

$3900

Rent of concrete formwork

$2000 (pending confirmation) 

Concrete mixer

(Pending confirmation once the walls are up)

Materials Subtotal

$21,175

 

 

Labor

$18,000

 

 

Grand total

$39,175 pesos (approx. $2000 USD or $2500 Canadian)

Together we can do this, folks! We can make 2021 brighter for Juan Manuel and Rodolfo, and for ourselves! Giving and helping out do the heart and soul good! To donate, you have several options:

  • Click the “Donate” link in the right-hand column on this VidaMaz.com website, and pay via PayPal.
  • Go to any OXXO and donate to BanCoppel account 4169-1603-7041-0699 (photo below) in the name of Yolanda Medina.

  • Canadians who prefer to email money can send it to Jeanette Leraand: jleraand@gmail.com
  • Contact Yolanda via WhatsApp at 669 431 4529 to arrange a time to meet and give her your donation.
  • Contact me at dianne@vidamaz.com and I’ll pick up your donation.

Christmas in Parque Central

DSC_8346©

The mayor and DIF Mazatlán have a terrific new offering for all of us this Christmas season: an interactive light show set to music on Avenida de la Bahía (formally Avenida Mazatlán), facing Central Park one block off the malecón behind the Olas Altas Inn. Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

The show debuted tonight as city residents and tourists were treated to The Nutcracker ballet performed for free in the open air. Hundreds of people were in attendance, including loads of families with small children ready to start the holiday season off with a bit of joy and merriment. Vendors sold salchichas and balloons to make sure they would benefit from the crowd and earn some money to buy their family’s presents.

The ballet was to have been preceded by the “spectacle of lights,” which was the reason most of the people were there—despite our terrific orchestra, dancers and chorus. All week the lighting guy has been setting up the electric Christmas trees and rehearsing to make sure tonight’s light show complete with fireworks, planned for 6:00 pm, would function well. It would have been terrific, too, as the full moon rose directly over the lighted tree display.

Apparently something malfunctioned even after all that preparation, and the audience wasn’t able to enjoy the show until the intermission of the ballet. By that time scores of families had left: disappointed, grumbling and sad.

The Christmas tree light show is enjoyable and worth a visit, especially if you have family or friends in town, have not yet walked the new mini-malecón—which we love, or  you are looking to get into the Christmas spirit. Greg’s terrific cell phone video of the show is below.

Four shows will be held every evening from now through the New Year at 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00 pm. Each show lasts about 20 minutes. The fireworks were only for tonight’s event, as far as I know.

Happy Holidays!

30th Annual Chicken Breakfast!

Cuando es más grande el corazón que la necesidad

Each year for over thirty years Yolanda Medina, her family and friends have fed the neediest of Mazatlán’s families at Christmas time in what is called “The Chicken Breakfast/Desayuno de los Pollos.” A multicultural group of Mazatlecos, Canadians and Americans have fed 2500 families/year, including a whole chicken, pantry items that last about a week, gently used clothing, bedding, coats, shoes and new toys.

THIS SATURDAY December 7th is the annual fundraiser breakfast. Tickets are 250 pesos and include a ticket for the raffle. The breakfast will be held at the Cruise Ship Dock, API, in front of the OXXO on Av. Gabriel Leyva. Start time is 8:30 am and it usually continues till about 11 am. Please join us! For tickets contact me, Jeanette Leraand, or Jorge Medina (speaks English well) on his mobile, (669) 110-0744. You can purchase tickets at the door.

In addition to the breakfast and raffle there is a Christmas Bazaar, bake sale and silent auction. If you are unable to attend, please make a donation! 100% of the money goes DIRECTLY to the needy; we are all volunteers. If you have items to donate for our silent auction or bazaar, please contact me at 118-4114.

The gifting process is labor-intensive, but we want to reach Mazatlán’s neediest, and sometimes that’s not easy to do. We go out to the squatter colonies and visit each and every shack, to verify that the families are living there (some just put a house up in hopes of eventually getting free land) and to be sure we reach the elderly, handicapped and home-bound. Many of these families live in “homes” made of sticks or pallets covered with garbage bags or tarps, as they have no where else to go. Most do not have running water, electric or gas. Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

The whole chickens we hand out normally are not roasted for Christmas dinner, as we might imagine, as these people have no ovens. The happy recipients usually boil the chicken in a pot over an open fire, and occasionally rotisserie it over an open flame. We serve elderly people whose children have abandoned them, unwed mothers with babies who’ve been kicked out of their homes, people on crutches, in wheelchairs, the blind and deaf. It is heartbreaking to see how these people live, and it completely makes Christmas to be able to help out a bit.

Please join us, donate bazaar or silent auction items or monetary support (you can donate money here). You can download a gift certificate here.

Also you are MOST welcome to join in early on the morning of December 24th to experience a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve morning by helping us hand out the food and clothing. Prior to Christmas, you can donate gently used clothing, blankets, coats, shoes or new toys. Drop off is at Quince Letras, Jorge Medina’s wrought iron workshop on Francisco Villa just down from the corner of Tampico. Detailed information can be found here.