III: Paulino

Paulino Buch Xalcut
(A-87) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: food, pain medication, wheelchair repairs, glass for a window
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For 15 years, Paulino's knees have ceased to serve him.
He sits in a wheelchair whose wheels don't turn, next to a window without a pane, where a blanket hangs.
It gets cold there, where the house sits overlooking Lake Atitlan and the crowns of broken buildings.
At 92 he has felt a few earthquakes, has seen a few sad things.
His wife died about the time his knees began to ache.
Of his five children, the three men work in the fields like he did, though one has "fallen" to drinking.
One daughter lives with her father and the others, she says, have no concern for him.
She does not speak much Spanish, did not go to school long.
Some grandchildren live in the same rented compound. Because Paulino can walk a little bit sometimes, he'll turn the corner and pass the time with them, chatting.
He coughs in the night, and cannot feel his knees.