Henry's Kids

Call For Help

August 15, 2004

These two fine young men, Fernando and Christian Avila Calderon, are spirited, well balanced and hardworking. I have known them personally for the past 8 years. They live on a hillside above the highway of a small town named Tacámbaro in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. Their home is perched on a 40-degree slope, with no running water, bare electrical light bulbs, and dirt floors.

Unfortunately, neither Fernando nor Christian have been able to attend school for the last two years because their family lives day to day, hand to mouth. Each fall for two years, the entire family has left their humble home, traveled to the Tierra Caliente, and camped out in the orchards to be able to work for two months harvesting limes. When the boys returned after missing two months of school, they were too far behind and couldn't catch up.

In July, 2004, I visited their home and spoke with the parents of these fine young men. I proposed a realistic and workable solution.

Adventure Travel Institute will raise money to support the boys' return to school by providing them with uniforms, tuition, and a modest wage for successfully attending school. Going to school will become their job. As a result, only the father will leave to harvest limes, and the rest of the family will stay in Tacámbaro at home.

I have enlisted the help of Dolores Ortega, the hotel reservations manager at the Posada de San Rafael in Pátzcuaro, to help administer and expedite this process. She comes from very humble roots as well, returned to school as an adult to get her primary and secondary education, and knows the system. Fernando and Christian understand the gravity of the proposal and are determined to do well.

To make a donation to the lives of these boys, please contact me at
(530) 318-1506

Thanks from Henry Wilds