Liliana Cardona Marín
Journalism deals with difficult, annoying, thorny, indefinable and urgent issues such as that of Leidy Jhoana Carvajal Ladino, a 30-year-old from Pereira, who suffers from various complications due to hypertension and very advanced diabetes and who, in order to improve her quality of life, requires the participation of citizens who have a big heart.
Diabetes was diagnosed from the age of 14, at 20 she became a mother and was a healthy woman who worked at whatever it took to cover the needs of the family. “If it was necessary to sell wafers, I would sell and I don’t think it was for tomorrow or the day after, for today”, recalls Leidy, while she speaks with an enthusiasm that it is not easy to understand where it comes from.
things got worse
With the passage of time, his eyes began to experience the ravages of the underlying disease and three years ago it was diabetic retinopathy, then cataracts and finally glaucoma. But these conditions did not stop her and she continued to sell raffles to avoid expenses at home, but now, it is more difficult for her to move, because her kidneys could not stand it either, they do dialysis and she has to use a wheelchair long journeys, since the pain when walking is intense.
Sisbén has not been kind to this family either, their classification is A5, they do not receive Familias en Acción, nor VAT Refund, and the president of the Community Action Board does not approach them to carry out any procedure or request a new census , revision that they need, because the floor is mostly dirt, it is covered with pieces of mat and some cloth. “Once the Sisbén people came to the Villasantana school, we went to see if we could process something, but one of the officials told me to stop playing blind and to go to Cuba,” the woman comments.
To receive a bit of light or heat, it must be done at the door of the only room or help you locate yourself on a neighbor’s platform.The actual situation
The house is located in the Monserrate neighborhood of the Villasantana commune, the situation of the apartment has already been discussed, it must be said that the walls are made of mat, it does not have windows and consists of a single room that can fit two 1-inch beds, 20 that cannot be separated. Leidy Jhoana lives there with her 10-year-old son, two brothers and the father who is in charge of housework, taking the child to school and helping him with homework.
In the back there is an incipient building that one of the brothers started, but could not finish, because he also has a disability in one of his lower extremities and what he earns from working goes to food, but few of these are she can eat because she is diabetic.
The challenge for citizens
This week, when so many will stop eating meat and do many other things to be in tune with Christ, are the perfect days to think about helping others. The quest for at least one decent room for Leidy, where she can take steps safely or move the wheelchair, which has a window through which the sun and natural light enter, should be the purpose of the Pereira campaign.
If a plate is emptied to build a room that is out of reach of the humidity of the ravine that borders the current one, it would be the most appropriate. She needs a bed in which she can rest alone, because the child at night with her bad sleep hurts her. As the brothers know about construction, the request is for materials: a tile, a bag of sand, five bricks, whatever each one can or has to share. El Diario and Q’hubo can be overseers through social networks and record what each citizen delivers so that it does not have another destination.
Those who do not have materials, but have the possibility of providing vegetables or healthy food, will be equally welcome. A neighbor of Leidy can locate a place in Monserrate, which serves as a collection point for the materials, the address of this family is manzana 16 casa 1 and the telephone numbers are 313 284 4069 and 301 710 1009.