Pattern For Change

A short drive from Estili is a village called La Laguna. We all pile in the van to go and see a new feeding station that has been built through the hard work and contributions of Montgomery Community church and the The Tin Roof Foundation.  Most of the folks in La Laguna make their meager living by working in individual coffee bean fields.  We stop to pick up a few workers from the Rainbow office, the foundation that coordinates the efforts in this small community.

As we turn up the steep hill we begin to pass the shacks that some of these folks live in: black plastic sheets, cardboard, sticks of wood tied together and an occasional tin roof.  We make a stop at one of the houses.  "You must see this and hear her story,"  I am told.  So we go up the steep hill passing several children , a man and the inevitable scrawny dog.

We enter the home and meet Candida, a diminutive woman barely five feet tall with long gray hair brushed back neatly and clasped with a barrette.  As in all Nica homes we visit, we are greeted warmly.  The first thing I notice is a shiny, white Singer sewing machine sitting under a small window.  And then we hear her story.

Candida was in debt and in danger of losing her home.  She could not work outside her home due to a badly deformed leg that she has had since birth.  She was not able to have it surgically repaired since she  had no one that  could stay with her for the three months needed for rehab.  

But she can sew.

Through the efforts of the Tin Roof Foundation she now has a sewing machine.  Candida proudly shows us stacks of well-worn clothing that she has mended for neighbors.  She also makes sheets and tablecloths when she is able to get enough material. On the wall she displays a two-piece child's outfit she has made as well as a ladies blouse.  She is working to pay off some debts and is no longer in fear of losing her home.  She taught herself how to use the machine.  The light is poor, the electricity unreliable, but she has done it!

I should have asked Candida if she uses patterns to make the clothing , but actually SHE IS the pattern for others to follow.  She is showing those younger and healthier than she is how to break out of the hopeless cycle of poverty.

Way to go Candida!!!