There´s been sad stuff going on in Walter Ferrety recently. One of the ladies in the office, Brenda, has a 2 year old granddaughter who´s been diagnosed with this rare form of eye cancer. She needs to get chemo, and probably have her eye removed. Her parents are really young, 20 and 22, and totally destroyed, as is Brenda and pretty much everyone else. This kid is spunky and a bubble of light wherever she goes. She´s one of those kids who captures everyone´s heart when she enters a room. She was chatting with all the adults in the hospital, and lightening their experience, I´m sure. On the last day of Purisima, Brenda traditionally invites the neighborhood to her house to pray at an altar to Maria. The songs of prayer are really pretty and often incorporate elements of Liberation Theology. After singing them all night the previous evening, I knew the words and melodies pretty well and was able to sing with everyone else. After praying, all of the children lined up to receive their nacatamales (yes, we made 200 more nacatamales for this occasion). When everyone had left but friends and family, Brenda called everyone into a prayer circle, where each person had a chance to personally pray for the health of Elipsia and all of the other children in the cancer hospital. Everyone was crying, but found strength in looking up at the statue of Maria encircled in flowers, lights, balloons, candles and incense smoke. (The first picture is Elipsia and Itsita, the little girl who I live with. The second is Elipsia with her dad Nager, Doña Esmeralda´s youngest son).