Archive for February 18, 2010
Olga’s walk
By Dani Pollock, who is currently volunteering with CFCA in Honduras.
I arrived back in Honduras on Jan. 16, 2010, just in time to join up with the Santa Rosa project’s portion of Walk2gether. After volunteering with the Santa Rosa project for 10 months, I was reassigned to Hermano Pedro project in Guatemala in June for six months because of the political crisis that had erupted in Honduras. Thankfully, everything went smoothly with the elections, and I was able to return to Honduras.
I was greeted by the familiar faces of the Santa Rosa staff, members of the Guatemalan staff and many sponsored individuals and their families. One woman in particular stuck out to me, Olga. I have known Olga since I began volunteering in September 2008. Olga has been a part of the CFCA family for seven years and has three children who are sponsored. I came to know Olga because she was always in the office sweeping, washing dishes, making coffee: she wanted to do whatever she could to show her gratitude to CFCA.
I talked to Olga while we were walking, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time chatting with her after my long absence. The participating walkers from the CFCA communities were walking a maximum of 10 kilometers, so I was surprised when Olga continued walking after the others had stopped. Yet, the next day, and the next, and everyday throughout the week, Olga was walking with us.
As the days passed, it became very clear how important this walk was to Olga. She began suffering greatly from the varicose veins in her legs. The veins became very swollen, and there was concern of them rupturing. However, Olga kept walking, limping along and overcoming her pain. Even when we were finally able to convince her to ride in the support vehicle for a bit, she would not stay in the car for more than 10 or 15 minutes. When I had the opportunity to ask her why she didn’t want ride, she shared with me that this walk was something she was doing as an offering for her children’s sponsors, whom she has never met.
The walk was something she wanted to do to thank the sponsors who have helped change her family’s life. Olga said that without CFCA and the sponsors, her children would be unable to go to school. She and her husband simply do not make enough money to pay for their children’s educational expenses. Olga herself did not have the chance to attend school because of similar circumstances. For this reason, Olga realizes the great opportunity her children have been given through CFCA to help them move forward in life.
Olga says, “Walk2gether is a walk of love.” It is not only a walk showing the love Bob Hentzen and CFCA have for the people being served in these countries … it is also a walk that sends its love all the way to the sponsors, wherever they may be.
The sponsored members and their families are walking to support Bob and to show their thanks and love to CFCA and their sponsors. Those who participate in the walk are saying CFCA has made a difference in their lives, and they will walk in the hot or cold, up mountains, with blisters and even painful varicose veins as their way of saying, “Thanks for your help” and, “I love you.” Just as Olga has shown us.
February 18, 2010 at 10:52 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 9 comments
