The “Rest of the Story” — “Each Arm Stroke . . . . “

“Each arm stroke, a breath for children” – says Luis 

There are children in the state of Oaxaca who live in a remote village over a mile high in the mountains not far from the head waters of the Rio Copalita . Their community, San Felipe Lachillo, is part of the Santiago Xanica Municipality.  Within the community are over 200 school children who live in “extreme poverty” with little food or other needed supplies.  

Now, how Luis Alfredo Estavillo Chavez, owner of Onix Restaurant in LaCrucecita, ever learned about their struggles and found them is beyond me because the village is miles inland, slightly northwest of Huatulco, and without roads or rivers to or from its location.   Like too many children, in too many countries, the children of San Felipe Lachillio have little food and little energy to attend and concentrate on learning while in school. 

Luis Estavillo, has decided to do something to help the children.  He believes his own life and that of his spouse, Elva, has been very blessed, and it is time to demonstrate his gratitude using some of his own funds to help children who are in much distress.  Luis would like to see some kind of an industry started in the community of San Felipe that would make enough profit to pay for the food for breakfasts of the school.  Perhaps a small scale “fish farming” industry could be started or maybe something could be manufactured from bamboo that could be sold in the markets of Huatulco, Pochutla, or even Oaxaca City. 

 He has the support of the community already.  The following is a photo of families of the community gathered at the “city hall” where they learned about the plan for the children of their community– 

  

With the support of the community, a new shelter was constructed as a kitchen and breakfast area for the children in order to protect from the sun and rain. It is under construction in the next photo-

 

 

The shelter has been completed and is ready for use.  The next photo shows a grandfather, his sons, and their spouses and children who participated in the project and stand to benefit from its operation — 

What is missing in this picture?  It is the children eating breakfast in preparation for a school day.  Yes, the shelter is built, but what is missing the industry to produce or pay for the food to be provided. 

 In order to raise funds to start industries in the community to buy food for the school breakfast program, the Huatulco Tri Sports Club Civil Association and Luis Estavillo are  sponsoring a swimming event on the 18^th or 19th of August, depending on weather conditions. 

Luis will start swimming at 7:00 am from San Augustin bay and end at Conejos bay around 15:00 pm. His arrival will be celebrated at Conejos beach with food and drinks for everyone.  It is a SOLO, NINE BAY SWIM, a total of 23.5 KM or 14.6 miles. 

With “each stroke of his arms, he will take a breath and give breath to children.” 

Please consider sponsoring him as he swims in one of the following ways: 

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SPONSORSHIP PER BAY: Pledge $10, $15, $20 for every bay that Luis swims. 

SPONSORSHIP PER KILOMETER: Pledge $5, $10, $15 for each km that Luis swims.

SPONSORSHIP PER HOUR: Pledge $10, $15, $20 for every hour during the swim.

 If you are interested in participating in any of these sponsorship options or just making a donation towards the cause please contact one of the people below for banking info.

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 Luis Estavillo: losportales_hux@hotmail.com  958 587 0070

Elva Medina Valles : elvacosmo@yahoo.com.mx    958 581 0448

Valerie Verhalen: Valerie@PalmPrincessMexico.com  958 587 2527

Stephen Sardeson: Stephen.Sardeson@Sardeson.org USA – TAX DEDUCTIBLE; e-mail for details

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LUIS ATTEMPTED THE NINE BAY SWIM DURING HURRICANE SEASON —  

Luis attempted the swim during the weekend of “Mean Hurricane Dean” in the Gulf.  The Pacific Ocean was difficult for Luis to manage even though he had trained for the event for over one year.  The Port Captain stopped his swim after 7 hours at the 3rd of the 9 Bays he was attempting to swim.  I will post photos about his on this Blog in the near future, but in the meantime you can see them by going to —

http://www.tomzap.com/ph5/read.php?6,7233,7233#msg-7233

Luis received $1,850 in pledges for the attempted swim from people in the USA from California to New York City. 

Stephen, AKA, Silversard@Genuine-Tourist.com