For Sheriff

I sent this to two people that had shown some interest in helping Sheriff in the past. They are willing (so graciously) to help with 600.00. I hate to ask, but I am looking for 25 or 50 USD (or whatever you can) to give to their family.

I told Sheriff yesterday that we would help, and today told him that my friends in America - mother's themselves - would like to help as well.

He told me he told his wife on the phone last night that we had offered to help pay for the baby, and she couldn't talk. She cried and cried. "She love you forever ma'am." He said. "And ma'am, I cry and cry all night, no sleep. I cry happy tears all night long."

Here is what he (SHE) is in need of:

This is a call for help. Not help for me, but help for a woman (a family) that is need of some help. I'll tell you the story.

I think you are familiar with Sheriff, our 'house boy'. Well, last year he needed some financial help. His wife and two year old son are in Bangladesh and were living with Sheriff's family. His mother, and three of his bothers and their families. I think I told you about the house on the blog. Basically, they all get a room and take turns cooking in a common cooking area on the property. But Sheriff's brother was getting very aggressive and abusive with Sheriff wife, Luna. Beating her and calling her names. He felt like since he was the oldest brother, he should have the nicer room, where Luna and her son lived. None of the other family members would help her, because they are all afraid of this man.

Sheriff paid for and built the entire housing area for these family members. All of it. He has been sending money home to these people, who don't work (there isn't any work for them), for 11 years. He came to me last spring and asked for some help. He needed money to buy a house and move his wife to safety. He said that it was a loan, and he would pay us back. After thinking it over, and all the blessings we have been given (and all the hard times we've had) we decided to give him the money. No loan, a gift. We didn't want him to feel indebted to us or anything. He asked two other families we know to help in some way or another. No one else would give or loan him a cent.

He went home and moved his family out of the terrible situation they were in. He had planned to just buy the land, and move them next year. But seeing that his wife could no longer live there, he decided to move forward and build the house and move Luna. This meant he needed more money. His brother in law (wife's sister) helped him secure a loan with a bank of another 13,000.00 USD. He spent most of the spring and summer at home, and came back last fall with his wife safe and a new baby on the way.

He sends home about 1000.00 USD a month to the brother in law, to pay off the loan. He only has 4,750.00 USD left to pay off the loan. Pretty impressive I think. He has quit giving his extended family any money and has been diligent in paying off the loan. He sends his wife 125.00 USD a month to live on, and he lives on the same amount here. (his room here costs him 32.00 USD a month...yep, you can imagine. He shares it with three other house boys. Ew.)

Here's where the trouble is. His wife is due to have her baby next week. She had an emergency c-section with her first baby. At 40 weeks the baby was still very high, and her water broke. The baby would not come down, and they took the baby c-section. She went to the doctor yesterday, the baby is very high again, and he said there is a 90% chance she and the baby won't make it if she goes natural. The trouble is, that with Sheriff paying back the loan and not being able to save anything else, he doesn't have enough for the c-section.

He hasn't come out right and asked me, because we gave him a pretty large sum last year. I am telling you the above story and personal financial information about our decisions, because I want you to see the whole story. We trust his needs. He needs help. You won't get it back. You probably won't even know anything that happens, except what I am able to tell you. But he, SHE, needs our help. She told Sheriff that she will do whatever he says. "You want me to go normal, I will try for you. I know you having money trouble. If I die, please take care of our baby." (their other son)

He doesn't need that much. He needs a total of 1800 USD. (1200 left) Whatever I'm not able to find, we will find a way to pay. I am trying to find families that would be willing to give them what they can. We loaned our gardener some money so his family could buy a plot of rice. It's just enough to actually feed his family (parents and siblings), so they don't have to buy rice from the store. This was a loan and I am willing to put that money towards Luna. (if and when I ever get it back form Dulal :) I am hoping to find families in the states that would be willing to give this money away. I know at Christmas people are always looking for families to help. Sorry, this is not Christmas. And it's not even tangible. It's just money so a woman can safely have a baby.

While I was home last summer I saw The Help. I'd read the book and loved it. While reading the book, I saw a lot of similarities with 'the help' here. Class systems, etc. But one of the scenes in the movie, that has continued to ring through to me, is when the house maid has saved and saved for her twins to go to college, and she is just a couple hundred dollars short. And the white woman says to her, "I wouldn't be a good Christian if I didn't teach you that the Lord helps those that help themselves." Or something like that. I felt sick when I saw that, because I know people here with lots of money, that have become so jaded that they won't help anyone. Sheriff asked other people he was working for to help him, and they all said no. Someone even said to me privately, "He's got a lot of nerve asking us for money." When that scene in the movie happened I thought of Sheriff and felt grateful that we were in a situation to help - and that we did.

So now, I'm asking you for help, for him. I didn't tell him I would. Yesterday morning our family said a special prayer for his wife and kids. And for him, this is making him crazy. I'm just not sure what else to do. I know that times are hard all over. I know you have a lot of things to do with your money. But if for some reason, you have some extra money that you have nothing else to do with (ya, right) I know a sweet little woman in Bangladesh that would sleep a whole lot easier tonight knowing that she can have a c-section and not have to fear losing her life in natural child birth.

PLEASE DON'T HESITATE to say NO. This is totally a favor for Sheriff, not me. Don't think that I will judge you, or have any hard feelings against you. I won't even bring it up again. Leave and comment or email me if you're interested. She's scheduled for the 23rd. The doctor told her if she tries to go natural he won't see her, he'll turn her away.

I hope this doesn't seem rude or that I am pushing something on you. I just thought I'd reach out to some people I thought might be able to help.

Read more about Sheriff here (I call him M in this post, and he got another job and now makes 1200 USD a month. Hooray! Oh. Until he lost it last month. Bummer. The lady said he wasn't fast enough.)