Update on the Cooperative Corn Bank

The cooperative corn bank, now under the management of Daniel Reyes of Jocuixtita, very nearly broke even this past year in spite of heavy crop damage by last year’s hurricane. This planting season the bank loaned 100 and 200 liter lots of corn to more than 40 families. The rain has to date been heavy and fairly regular, with the promise of bumper crops if it keeps up, and if there are no big wind storms.

Thanks to the Sale of Bird Prints, Rosalío Can See

I would like to thank all those who bought the sets of prints of my black and white paintings of the Birds of the Sinaloan Barrancas. I thank, also, Robert Knudsen and all the others who, through donation of their time and skills, helped produce the prints at a minor cost. The sale of prints went well and provided enough margin in funds for Project Piaxtla to support a number of ventures which otherwise would have been unfeasible.

One such venture was to arrange and finance eye surgery for 60 year old Rosalío, blind with cataracts. From the slums bordering the city of Mazatlán, Rosalío first came to the Ajoya clinic nearly a year ago. Word had reached that far of an American in Ajoya who gave sight to the blind, free of charge. (The reference was surely to Dr. Rudolph Bock, Palo Alto eye surgeon, who came in 1967, performed 55 eye operations in eight days, and in fact, restored the sight of three blind cataract patients. See Newsletter #1) We explained to Rosalío that although we wanted to bring the eye surgeon back, the Mexican government had blocked any further surgery by U. S. doctors, and our hopes for gaining permission were dim. Nevertheless, Rosalío stayed on the off chance. Martín’s family, who live in the house of our clinic, took Rosalío in and he stayed for eight months, still hoping. At last, this summer, with the extra funds brought in by the sale of bird prints, I took Rosalío to the one good eye surgeon in Mazatlán to have his cataracts removed. Now he can see again.