Final Report: 

“Committee for Disaster Relief”

“Campaign to Help Eduardo Get a Leg”

February 2014 – March 2019

 

The “Committee for Disaster Relief” met for the first time in February 2014.  Present at this initial meeting were Angelica and children, and 9 foreigner and 2 Mexican volunteers.    Myranda organized the meeting to ask for support for Angelica Virtud Ochoa (Morales) as she was 8 ½ months pregnant with her third child; she was a single mom with 2 children, (one of whom was born without a femur); she was homeless and about to give birth.  The unborn baby’s father was in jail and she had no money, no place to live, no one to take her to the hospital and no way to support herself and her children after delivery.  

The first meeting was focused on meeting Angelica’s immediate needs and volunteers took on responsibility for researching and talking to others in the community.  A temporary home was found, money was donated to buy food for the family, a bank account was set up to collect donation monies, and baby supplies were gathered from the community. From monetary donations, a double baby carriage was purchased so that the newborn and the disabled boy (Eduardo) could both travel in it as Eduardo was unable to walk because of his shortened leg.

Over the next few weeks, the social services (DIF) were approached to see what could be offered to help Angelica. Various church groups were also approached to see if there was aid available.  Angelica joined the JW’s for a short period and was helped by members who offered friendship and babysitting.    

A plea was sent out to the community via the message board and several people pledged to pay a month’s rent so the family would have a place to live.

As Angelica’s immediate needs were taken care of, fundraising changed focus to a campaign to help get medical attention for Eduardo who was born without a femur.   The “Help Eduardo Get a Leg!” campaign continued over the next 4 years with a separate bank account and a PayPal account. Several individuals took it upon themselves to fundraise in their home communities. Money was used to cover bus fare, low-rent accommodation supplied for low income families who were visiting for medical appointments, food for the two of them and food and daycare for the remaining 3 children whenever Eduardo and Angelica needed to travel to Mexico City.  All expenses were approved jointly between Cruz and Myranda.  Note: Some funds were also used for medical care for the other children – i.e. medicines, x-rays, scorpion anti-venom and a hospital stay.

Angelica found part-time work as gardener and house cleaner.  Cruz has been instrumental in guiding Angelica so she could learn basic parenting skills, budgeting and long-term planning. Although frustrating at times, Angelica has definitely done well under Cruz’s care.

Three years ago, Angelica got pregnant by a local Mexican man.  While she was pregnant, the father was murdered due to drug involvement.  Angelica was fearful that the drug people would come after her and her unborn child but that did not materialize.  The child’s uncle agreed to provide child support for Victor.  As soon as Victor was weaned, he and his family have taken Victor for much of the time and provided food, clothing and other essentials.

When Angelica gave birth to Victor, she agreed to have her tubes tied as she finally realized how difficult and expensive it was to raise children.

Angelica has not had much success with keeping any jobs.  She has relied heavily on foreigners to give her money and support.  Quite a few men are enamoured of her and give her money.  She also generated some income from selling off clothes as the children grew out of them. (Unfortunately, she often spent the proceeds on new outfits for herself.)

Two years ago, she and two Canadian women bought a piece of land with Angelica’s name on the title.  They loaned and gave her money to build a house on the property.  Two foreign couples have also contributed heavily to the family’s house building.  To date, the structure is finished, the plumbing and electrical are installed as is a full kitchen with new fridge and stove – All this is a far cry from where she was 5 years ago!

Eduardo has had several operations on his leg and foot over the last 3 years.  He has a prosthetic which is adjusted every 6 months or so.  All of the associated expenses for his medical care have come from Eduardo’s account and he is walking, running and even playing soccer with his new leg!

Over the past 2 years, Cruz and Myranda started having some concerns about Angelica’s seemingly selfish attitude to her children; they didn’t seem to be her first priority.  She continued to spend many hours on her mobile with her hundreds of Facebook friends.  Her children’s health was not being attended to and she started leaving them alone, without an adult to look after them, as she started working nights and then partying and drinking.  One of the Canadian women who owned the house and land with her moved in and stayed for a couple of months. She had a negative influence on Angelica and encouraged her to parent “any way she felt like as she was the mother”, even if it meant breaking the law and leaving the children unattended.  Angelica began to feel entitled to spend the monies in her accounts (her personal one and Eduardo’s) without any accountability.  On the most recent trip to Mexico City, she stayed at a hotel which cost much more than the low-cost shelters for medical  appointments, and she took extra money from Eduardo’s account. She started making other poor financial choices such as buying a stereo system and then claiming she didn’t have enough money to get costumes for her 2 children to participate in the kindergarten’s large, annual, community parade.  Lastly, she demanded that the 2 bank accounts be under her complete control and stated that until the accounts were signed over to her, neither Cruz nor Myranda were welcome to visit the children or have anything to do with the family.  Consequently, they were not invited to either Cheli’s, Eduardo's nor Jade’s birthday parties.

Cruz and Myranda have spoken of their concerns to the principals of the kindergarten and the elementary school a few times over the past few years, so they are aware of the children’s home situation.  The principal ran a parenting course for a few weeks last year that Angelica supposedly attended.  She also received some counselling sessions with the DIF’s psychologist.  The DIF were informed of Angelica’s behaviours, especially her decision to leave the children unattended for 4-5 hours at night, which, in Mexico, is against the law.  Again, Angelica says she has no money for a babysitter yet there seems to be plenty of money for her to have new clothes, jewelry, accessories and shoes as well as money for drinking in the local bars.

At the beginning of our fundraising efforts, we received the following concern from one contributors and re-iterated by many others: “Please ensure monies received are used appropriately. Perhaps someone can make sure the landlord gets the money and storekeepers have a credit built up so it doesn’t go astray. We are hoping that none of the pledged dollars make their way towards the childrens father’s outstanding debts/fines etc.”  Cruz and Myranda took it upon themselves to ensure that this happened and that every expense had a receipt for it.  Over the 5 year period, donations to the “Help Eduardo” account totalled $103,110.00 Pesos.  Donations to the “Committee for Disaster Relief” totalled approximately $72,624.00 Pesos.. 

Total donations for both accounts equaled $175,734.00 Pesos  (approx. $12,546.00 CDN)

   (Note:  other monies have been paid directly to Angelica and no receipts were asked for or given – we have no accounting of these funds as they did not pass through the bank account.  Other donors paid directly to the grocery and meat stores with no receipts.)

To date, March 31, 2019, the books are in balance.  There is a balance of $8373 Pesos in Eduardo's account (enough for his next scheduled appointment) and $59 Pesos in Angelica's account.

There is reason to feel proud of Angelica’s growth and maturity in general.  We have always encouraged her independence and, like many “abuelas” before us, we are willing to let her go.  We have done our very best to be open and transparent to all who have generously given of their time and money and we thank you for the trust you have in us.  A decision has been made by Myranda and Cruz to stop being the overseers of Angelia’s fundraising accounts as of March 31, 2019.

Angelica has taken over Eduardo's bank account without our consent. As we can no longer be the managers of Angelica and Eduardo’s accounts, please note that there is no overseeing of where or how your future donations will be spent and no guarantee that Roberto (father of 2 of the children) may gain access.

Sincerely,

Cruz Gomez and Myranda O’Byrne

 

 

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