Edgar, The Ice Cream Man

I met a dear man on the street outside Cali Central Cumberland Presbyterian Church. His name is Edgar Ramirez, and with his little cart of chilly treats, he absolutely melted my heart.

Edgar has a litany of medical problems, and he has no health insurance. When I asked him how he pays for his medicine, he sweetly pointed to his ice cream cart. Seven days a week, Edgar pushes his cart through his Cali neighborhood to make enough money to pay rent on a tiny apartment he shares with his wife.

The thing about Edgar that really got to me is that he cannot imagine not working. I mean literally... he cannot understand the concept of not going out and working every single day of his life. This became apparent when I asked him what would happen to him when he is old and no longer able to work. Through my translator, I tried rephrasing the question three times, but his answer was the same no matter what the question. He would always have to work, he explained, to take care of his wife. Finally I pressed through, asking him who will take care of him and his wife when he is old and frail and unable to do this job or ANY job. God will take care of me, he said.

It's impossible to overlook the faith of Edgar and of others we met in Cali. The young Colombian woman who is transcribing the Spanish interviews for me has been taken by it, too. She herself was forced to leave Colombia with her two children two years ago after her husband -- who worked for the Colombian government -- was murdered. And after watching some of our interviews with Cali's elderly, she was moved. "These people have nothing," she said, "but their faith is so strong. It makes me stop and look at my life and examine MY faith. It puts my problems in perspective."

I hope that meeting these amazing people through our documentary will have a similar effect on you.

AN UPDATE: I first reported Edgar's story here in May 2006. Since then, I have learned that Edgar succumbed to any number of his many health problems. Had he had access to health care, perhaps he could have lived to have seen his grandchildren grow up.
(photo by Mark Mosrie)

Dreaming of Hogar Samaria

Isabel Erazo Herrera is credited with having had a vision that led to the creation of Hogar Samaria. She is a member of the Samaria CP Church, which is why the Hogar Samaria nursing home will be named after that church. Here is her story, translated from her own words.

My name is Isabel Erazo Herrera. I have 7 children. My husband died 6 years ago, and I’ve been a Christian for 30 years. I’ve been in the Cumberland Presbyterian church for 20 years. It makes me very happy to work in the Lord’s work.

I am very happy because of the sadness I had known, because I met the Lord when I had cancer. The Lord healed me of a cancer in the body. After that at the age of 42 I had a son, and at age 47 I had another daughter. That’s why I can see that the Lord healed me so quickly from the cancer.

Three years ago, I had a stroke. The Lord also healed me, because it wasn’t my time, and He wanted me to continue doing his work. I’m 66.

Since the time I met the Lord, I was born to serve in the things of God. Then I began to work in the House of the Young. (Translator's note: The House of the Young is a home for youth with drug or behavior problems.) I worked there for almost a year. There I worked with children with drug problems. I continued working with youth drug addicts in camps. I worked with them bringing youth from here, from Cali to the camps. My husband didn’t like it and didn’t agree with it. So I retired.

One time I heard on the radio that the Christian Cross Church needed someone to teach crafts. I applied, because it was for children who were sponsored children. (Translator's note: They are children that have a “godparent” or sponsor who helps them with their education. Generally they are very poor children.) I began there, and I spoke with Sister Mercedes.
I began to work. There she told me that they opened an ancianato (Director's note: An ancianato is a nursing home or home for the aging.) And I saw the necessity of us, of the Presbyterians, also having an ancianato. Then I had taken several elderly there and I told Sister Mercedes that I would like for there to be an ancianato in my church. And she told me, "Sister, pray to God, talk to Him." So that was how I began to ask God and I told Him what was said, that we should have an ancianato.

Then, once in that time, there was also there was an old servant and I took him to the town council. The town council told me that it would require much money and many other things and that it was very difficult. I was discouraged. I told all this to a Sister and she said to me, “Sister have you told the Lord?”

Then I came here (to Samaria CP Church) one day and I knelt and said to Him, “God, I want, I want to work with the elderly,” because I had already worked in another ancianato as a social worker, and then the Lord said to me, “So what are you afraid of?” And I said “God, forgive me.” And I went where Sister Nancy Cortes was and I told her that He told me to go ahead.

I didn’t say anything to the town council, but went and began to look for a house. (Translator's note: She was trying to rent a house to have the elderly there.) It was very difficult. Many people said no. For old people, no. They damage the homes and it is very difficult. They have a bad smell. I had a lot of difficulty. But I kept on.

They told me that they had a house that was very narrow, but we began there... We continued to receive blessings. Here (at the church) the women gave us a shower, because we didn’t have anything. They gave everything themselves. And they kept on giving.

We came to have 12 elderly residents. Two that they brought on Sunday. Sometimes they brought up to 6 elderly but just to spend the day. And I continued falling in love and enjoying them, more every day. And each one of them left a story in our lives because there were some that were 105 years old. And they sang “Pretty Little Doll” (Translator's note: a typical song of Colombia).

Others that said that they were going to the farm. (That’s what they called the house for the elderly.) For example, like the brother of Sister Mery, he went to the patio, where we had an azulejo (Translator's note: an azulego is a bird that sings prettily.) And I said to him look, look at your friend, and he understood and talked to himself, and he told me later Ï’m going to the farm to milk the cows. He was confused and a little disoriented. And I let him talk.

And well, each one had something. And there was another that also taught us. She was 90. She was the grandmother of Pastor Manuel Vargas and she arrived very aggressive. She had dementia. No one wanted to take care of her because she took her clothes, she went out and she lost them. When she arrived there, the first thing she did was to slap us. And they told me, "sister are you going to take this?" And I told them, "That’s the job. There could be no laughs, and it couldn’t be that way. Here it’s that we had coming sisters, and each time she hit us, it was with crossed hands." And she hit everyone that walked by.

Then the Lord and Holy Spirit enlightend me to say, "What a pity that you hit us. I love you Carmen." So it was that she learned and only lifted her hand and said, "I love you. I love you. I won’t fight." She knew that at 3 in the afternoon, the people that were caring for them would make them fresh pan de bono. (Translator's note: Pan de Bono is a traditional bread from the Cali bakery.) And she touched us on the shoulder and said, "Pan de bono, pan de bono." And we knew that she still wanted her bread.

And each one, each one was a very beautiful story, a story that we have left for ourselves.

A little girl came and we told them that we couldn't take her because she was so young, but she was a special child (Translator's note: “special child” usually refers to a child with Down’s syndrome.) She was the sister-in-law of Pastor Eduardo Campo, and I said to them, and why can’t you, you can have her there. In her house she fell a lot, and there, thanks to God, we put here with a walker and she enjoyed it so much. She was 18, but there we celebrated two birthdays with her.

We celebrated birthdays with them. I acquainted them with the Third Generation House (a program the government has for elderly with limited resources). We made them swings and they rode them. You could see their happiness when we took them to the Play Ground. Their own families helped us to take them in cars and we went for a whole day for the Youth House, to Pardo Yada. It’s a very nice and pretty site with pools fitted for the elderly, and we also invited other brothers that also liked to serve, and each one was in charge of an elderly person to take care of him there.

I feel very fortunate to see how the Hogar Samaria is growing and how it has not died but I would like to see it full of residents. That would be a dream come true. Amen.

Director's note: We asked Doña Isabel how it makes her feel to see the love, care and commitment of those from the United States who come to Colombia to help with constrtuction and who donate funds to help make Hogar Samaria a reality. Here is her response.

To me it is so beautiful, our family... that they come to work. They come to work and to teach us that they come to set this stone for the work of my Lord. (And I want) to thank them and to thank all of our brothers and sisters, that I know that our family of God is very big, and that everything that they do, they know when God pays us, oh, the joy. This joy at this time seems beautiful to me, of being with brothers and sisters that we hadn’t known, but that we already know, and the brothers and sisters that that send us something...to help us here in Colombia.

I want to say that the brothers and sisters that want to contribute or that we want to contribute, we should ask the Lord
for not our will to be done, because we alone cannot but with Him, yes, we can come to give that love, because if we don’t love ourselves, how can we love others? Then firstly, we should be commanded by God to be able to come to love those elderly. That like the people say, they are like children, and we to our children, how do we treat them? Then in the same way, we should treat them, not treat them like abandoned ones. Because that is what is being lacked in their homes all of a sudden. Because all of a sudden their family works and they don’t have anyone with whom to leave them. That’s why Hogar Samaria has been made.

Today, Hogar Samaria is not only the dream of Isabel Herrera but also the dream of many in Cali and across the United States. Please help us make the dream of this much-needed home for the aging a reality by donating to the Hogar Samaria Fund. All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of your donations go directly toward construction. Checks should be made to Shepherd's Rest, earmarked "for Hogar Samaria Construction" and mailed to Shepherd's Rest, 605 Lake Scene Dr., Eddyville, KY 42038. Shepherd's Rest is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

(Photo by Mark Mosrie, March 2006)