---

The elderly man pushed the wheelbarrow full of dogs up the rutted dirt road in the Corralejo community to where Rosey’s Wish Sterilization Clinic was set up for the day.  He also had with him a half-dozen puppies crammed into a flour sack.

The dogs were not theirs. Technically.

The street dogs had found their way to the man and his siblings, and their 94-year-old father, and they just couldn’t turn them away. The aging family lives in a cobbled structure that barely stands in good weather, leaks mercilessly in the rainy season — water pools on their bare concrete floor and on their beds — and offers no comfort from wind or cold, nor in hot summer months. 

In the kitchen, a tabletop two-burner propane stove sits on a time-scarred high bench. A gas tank rests awkwardly in the corner. The walls are made from shipping pallets. The roof is a slapdash of corrugated sheets over a precarious, tied-together wood raft system.  Light shines through the gaps. Curtain walls enclose the toilet, offering little privacy. There is no running water, no sinks, no sanitation. Those who are better off would call it a hovel. Still, it is their home.

They subsist, just barely, on the minuscule pension of the 94-year-old father.

And yet, even in these conditions, they could not bear to see the scrawny stray dogs of their “campo” neighborhood scrounge for scraps and shelter.

They opened their hearts and doors to them. What little they have is now theirs.

Glynis Palazuelos was volunteering with Rosey’s Wish Sterilization Clinic on that day, a few months ago, when the man wheeled the dogs up to the clinic. After hearing their story and witnessing their compassion for their animals, she went home and asked her lawyer friend, Javier, to visit the family with her and see how they might help. 

“What we found was a family living in unsafe conditions and in need of food, warm clothing, and a safe environment,” she said recently.

“The kitchen is literally a death trap with walls made from wood pallets, a ceiling consisting of bits of blackened wood and plastic, while a gas tank and pile of firewood sit along one side of the kitchen.”

Glynis said the sky is visible through the bedroom ceiling, made of corrugated metal.

There are no sinks, and the one lady of the household does all of the cooking and washes everyone’s laundry in a plastic tub,” she added.

Glynis, who is an architectural designer, and Javier, who is a lawyer and project manager,  have started bringing food for the people and the animals. 

But, of course, she said, more needs to be done. 

“We wish to help build their house up to safer livable standards,” she said. “Our dream is to supply them with two sinks and a washing machine. But to start, they need blankets and warm clothing for the cold weather starting to develop. 

”The 94-year-old father receives a government pension, and it is upon this that the elderly family subsists.”

Glynis and Javier are investigating government assistance and a couple of non-profit foundations that may be able to help. 

But there is more to do.

“If anyone has extra blankets or jackets to donate – and/or building supplies, appliances, please contact me,”  said Glynis. “Please Direct Message me @glynis_ in_mexico (on Instagram) – and thank you for your contribution to San Miguel!” Also, you can reach Glynis at her e-mail: Glynispb@gmail.com .

Among the family’s needs listed by Glynis are a refrigerator, a washing machine, a toilet, sinks, roofing material – or donations of bricks, blocks, cement, and metal support structures. They are taking care of the most immediate needs first.

In time, they hope to provide a house in which the father and four elderly siblings can live in comfort, security, and dignity. Who knows? Maybe even before Christmas!

Glynis plans to go out to the house and take measurements and — using her architectural background — will draw up “a plan for necessary construction.”

In talking with Glynis, I get the feeling that this is only the first of many such projects she wants to take on. She sees the needs and also sees the wealth and compassion that surround San Miguel and expats in the community.

She wants to connect those in need with those who can solve the problems.