Spiderman visits Andres and Anita

Aiming to raise awareness of the situation of the people living in poverty or with a disability, Loki Hostel´s bar manager Alan Cotton agreed to take the challenge of wearing a Spiderman costume for six full weeks, only allowed to take it off to shower. Loki  Hostel is aiming to give back to the locals by supporting MySmallHelp (MSH). So, the funds Alan raises as Spiderman go to MSH, helping us to finance the school bus project and support twelve families in the area of Ollantaytambo and Trujillo, enabling their children access to education.


Last week, Alan accompanied MSH´s director Leander Hollings for a few days.


On his first day, Alan went to visit two of the children MSH is currently supporting in Cusco, Andres and Anita.


Andres is a young man of 24, who was born a normal child who enjoyed, running, playing and leading a life like anyone else. After a few years however, he developed an illness called Poliomielitis that caused Paraplegia to develop. This meant he could no longer move around using his legs; he also had general body paralysis. Andres ended up living in the San Juan de Dios Clinic in Cusco for six years. His parents have since passed away, leaving him with no other relatives to take care of him. Andres is now in a wheelchair; his hands appear useless at first sight, but thanks to his strength and his eagerness to learn more every day, he soon proves us wrong when we see what this little pair of hands is capable of doing.


Andres has a charming personality which is apparent as soon as you meet him. He is very intelligent and has no complexes despite his condition. He has not been able to attend school regularly and MSH is helping him to attend weekend school so that he can catch up and continue to make progress. He is very capable and anxious to learn more. Currently, he is living in a room that is in no way adequate for his condition: He does not have access to a bathroom and struggles getting through the door in his wheelchair, always needing help to enter and leave his room. He finances himself through working as a computer instructor during the week, paying for his room and food, struggling to get by. It is his dream to go to university and study Systems Engineering, to become a teacher and help others who suffer from a disability and teach them that anything is possible.


MSH organized a wheelchair for Andres and is always in close contact with him, helping him with his school fees and materials and trying to help out with what he needs most. Right now, Andres is struggling to get back a piece of land he rightly owns in Paru Paru, the village he was born in. During his absence (due to his illness), his relatives started using the land,making it difficult for Andres to claim it back. MSH is communicating with the president of the community as well as Andres´ relatives in order to enable him to reclaim his property, on which he aims to build a tourist house to support him and his community.


Spiderman visited Andres in his room, getting to know this amazing person.
 

 Here, they are in front of Andres` door; the problem with the door is that it does not open properly, so Andres always has trouble going through in his wheelchair.


Anita is an 11-year-old girl who was born with two congenital disorders called myelomeningecele and hydrocephalos. These disorders required her to have a valve inserted in her head to alleviate the symptoms of hydrocephalos. She also has hip deformities and club foot, as well as a squint required her to wear lenses since she was four years old. She cannot walk on her own, so is in a wheelchair; also, she has contonence problems which force her  to wear nappies. Anita lives in social housing provided by Asociación pro vivienda together with her family. Her mother is currently unemployed and works full time as a house wife and carer for Anita. Her father works at an ironmonger´s, his minimum wage barely covers all the necessary expenses of his family.
Anita is a very kind, cheerful and playful girl who loves playing with her pets as animals are her passion. Her school teacher tells us that she is very sociable, clever and intelligent.  She is able to understand everything, only struggling with writing at a regular pace, which makes it difficult for her to keep up with the other children.


MSH has helped Anita get a new wheelchair, as she was using and old small one, so now she feels much more comfortable. Also, we provide her with her nappies (she needs to be changed three to four times a day) and help her with her transport so she can go to hospital for checkups.


Here, Spiderman is posing with Anita, her sisters and her mother in their little backyard;  Anita`s sisters always help their mother in the household and do everything so Anita feels comfortable.







 
Spiderman with one of Anita`s beloved pets