When Lisa and I left Texas in 2013, after many years in Austin, we dreaded finding a new doctor, mechanic, dentist, plumber, etc. Today we have all those people on speed dial or rather,WhatsApp.
Last summer we needed to find a new member of the clan, an appliance guy. That’s when we met Oliver.
In Mexico, people fix things. If you can’t get parts, duct tape steps in. Oliver spent four days trouble shooting, ordering and replacing the motherboard and cleaning the coils of our, old by today’s standards, refrigerator. He didn’t leave until everything worked as it should. His diligence saved us a bundle.
Every day that Oliver was in our house, a pint-sized assistant named Marco was by his side. Marco is eleven. He would not talk to us, kept his head down and did not make eye contact, in spite of Lisa’s best efforts to engage him. Oliver was teaching Marco about tools and various tasks of appliance repair.
In a private conversation Oliver explained that Marco refused to go to school. His mom worked all day and could not make him go. Marco can not read. It is a sad situation and Oliver was doing his best to keep the boy occupied and out of trouble.
This week we had more refrigerator problems and Oliver showed up again. Before touching the refrigerator he excitedly told us the story of Marco.
Apparently Marco has two sisters who are also struggling with school attendance. Oliver, out of his own pocket, bought the girls shoes, school clothes, backpacks and supplies. Seeing the perks, Marco meekly stepped forward to inquire if he too could get new things if he went to school. Oliver said that he sat the boy down and extracted an agreement before making the investment. Apparently Marco had been being bullied for his lack of shoes.
Oliver encouraged the mom to talk to the school about getting Marco individual help and the school agreed. All this because of a simple man who values children, education and made a decision to help.
An aside about Oliver. He was in a serious motorcycle accident a few years ago which he crawled his way out of. His body is twisted and partially disabled yet he reinvented himself by going to school to learn appliance repair. Out of his small savings for a truck he is sending three neighbor children to school. If any of you would like to donate to help, please let me know.
DOS TORTAS
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