Builders of a New Generation

Ivon Cuervo - Posted on January 27, 2010

Ninfa, 76, and her husband, Peter, 86, decided to be parents again eight years ago, which happens when they received their granddaughter that was only a month and a half old in their care. The sponsorship helps these brave grandparents in the mission to help Dayane, now 8, grow and reach her goals.

At the break of dawn, Ninfa, 76, gets up to help her granddaughter, Dayan, get ready to go to the school. Peter, 86, Ninfa’s husband, also gets up early; about 5 a.m.. The three of them have coffee and bread before starting their daily activities.

On her way to school, Dayane meets some of her friends of the neighborhood and they go together to study. Then, her grandparents go to work.

Ninfa stays at home. She mashes flour, salt and oil and prepares puffs that later she cooks on the wood stove, while Peter gathers dry wood sticks which he ties together and then sells on the streets.

Some years ago, Peter had the vigor to cut palms trees and Ninfa used to wash clothes in family houses, but now their physical conditions have changed. “When one conquers age, everything is running out—the sight and [the] strength. And we are in this condition,” says Peter.

Ninfa waits for Dayane to arrive from school. She serves her lunch and then goes out with a basket filled with puffs she prepared in the morning in order to sell them on the streets.

After selling all the puffs, Ninfa has enough money to buy half a pound of rice and three eggs for the dinner for her family. She also buys the ingredients to prepare more puffs again the next day.

Memories and Dreams

“My granddaughter does not remember her mom. Her father brought her when she was just a month and a half old,” explains Ninfa.

Gerardo, Dayane’s father, went to find a job to the municipality of Barranquilla, an eight-hour drive from Nueva Esperanza. There, Gerardo works as a watchman and sends them a monthly amount to help with some expenses of the girl. He sometimes visits Dayane. “I feel happy when my father visits me,” she says.

“I am fine with my grandparents because they love me and care about me. I wish they can be in good health and live for [a] long [time],” says Dayane.

Along her wish to see her family healthy is her desire to study medicine. “I want to be a medical doctor. I need to study a lot to get it,” says the girl.

For Dayane’s grandparents, her sponsorship is a providential hand that improves their living conditions and provides what they need so she can continue studying.

Ninfa is prayers that her granddaughter’s dream will become true. “I ask God to help her so she may become a good medical doctor,” she says.

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