Meet Mariano’s Family  

Mariano lives with his mother Iris and four siblings in a two room house provided by the government.  It has no indoor bath room, no indoor water and no electricity. 

Iris struggles to feed and clothe her children, ages one to seventeen but she knows that education is important for all of them.  Eleven year old Elizabet and five year old Eric have just begun their school year.  However, Mariano’s older brother, Rogelio, was not able to afford school clothes and materials last semester or for this semester.  He is endeavoring to find a way to return this year by finding nearby work, but has not yet been successful.   

Mariano, seen here on the left, is a typical sixteen year-old boy.  He loves to hang out with his friends, to play jokes on his siblings, and to “fit in” with the people around him.  He is a bright, attentive, and happy young man, but he lives with a disability that affects him every day. When he was three weeks old he suffered an ear infection and high fever that went undiagnosed for two months, leaving him almost completely deaf; now he can communicate only with sign language and gestures.  Until recently he depended on the Handicap Center (FPI) for transportation expenses to the public school a few days each week where he participated in special education classes for the hearing impaired.
  This year is beginning well for Mariano; he is now starting to take a welding course at the Obispado in David. Currently FPI is supporting him, but ideally some person or organization will step forward to take over this modest financial commitment to Mariano’s future and to also provide him some attention and the encouragement  that he needs to follow this important path.  Iris believes that despite his disability, this training could prepare him to live a full, happy and productive life.
Iris says that she is grateful to FPI for all the things they do for Mariano and to Buenos Vecinos for providing her family non-perishable food.  This BVB donation to their pantry is one they can depend on every month, she said with a smile.