Saida came to visit us a few weeks ago. I did not know her, but Saida had learned about Ruach’s work and was concerned about Miguel’s situation. Miguel is a 47 year old intellectually disabled man who lives with his 80 year old mother.
The mother is a brave woman, but she really worries about Miguel’s fate if she were to get injured, fall ill or die. She had already lived for a year in the only old people’s home in Juigalpa, and during that time Miguel also lived with her there as there was no one else in her family that was able (or prepared) to look after Miguel.
Of course I accepted Saida’s invitation to get to know Miguel’s situation first hand. Saida and I went for a first visit, and for a second visit I went with Ana Alicia, the Ruach Foundation president, to have another objective opinion about Miguel’s need to come and live with us in our community home.
The next stage was having a meeting with Miguel, his mother and another relative at the Ruach Home, so that they could get to know our home and to make further arrangements. Of course this meeting also helped us to establish whether Miguel’s family was really serious about him joining us. They came to the meeting as arranged, a good first step, and this was the beginning of the official one-month trial period. The mother is very motivated, although none of Miguel’s four sisters appear willing to devote time to it. Miguel’s mother has up to now been accompanied by a son-in-law, who is supposed to become the contact person for the family. So far he has kept the appointments we’ve made with him. The plan is that during April Miguel will gradually spend more time at our home. For example, we have started off with a visit from 9-11 am accompanied by a relative; then from 9-11 accompanied for part of the time only, then from 9 am -1pm which will include a shared lunch time, etc. The purpose is of course that he gradually can get used to all of us at Ruach and we to him. We can then also observe what he is able to do and what he is used to, and we can ask the family questions. If all goes well, Miguel will become an official Ruach Home resident at the beginning of May. Of course we hope it will work out. See his picture as a first introduction.