Please help us to provide a safe place to sleep for Don Chepe!

If you live in or visit Antigua Guatemala, you´ve probably seen Don Chepe offering shoeshines in front of Wendy´s by the central park. (Unfortunately, few people wear leather shoes anymore, so Chepe is basically reduced to begging.) He is a timid, very religious fellow with a moderate intellectual disability. He cries easily and is deeply moved by the music he hears in church .

Chepe lived for decades in a situation of violence and abuse, with a family member who each night took from him whatever money he had earned, and beat him if the money seemed insufficient. He ate scraps, slept on a broken cot in a dirty closet, and was not allowed to use the sink, shower or laundry. When his mother died, Chepe was told he could not attend the funeral because he was filthy and his clothes were rags. Luckily my friend and I saw him crying; we bought him a shower, shave and clothes and accompanied him so that (with great trepidation) he could farewell his mother.

We decided to rescue Chepe from those ghastly conditions and found him a new place to live! It´s a shed made of corrugated metal which we furnished with donations - a bed, blankets, towels, and even a little stove that he plugs in to cook his meals. He has access to a bathroom, and best of all he can lock the door and be SAFE in his own little space. He began to cry (again!) when he realized that at age 66, he can finally sleep comfortably in his bed and no longer be afraid. He buys food with his meagre earnings, but we need to cover his rent which is about $100/month.

Please help us to pay this cost! We would like to build up a fund of at least a year´s rent, plus some extra for medical and dental visits, so that Chepe´s safety is assured and he is not competing with all the other poor Guatemalans we are helping.

Muchas gracias from Rebecca Peters, long-term volunteer in Antigua