Visit with Esmeralda D.
One of our dear widows, Esmeralda D., received $150 from her caring sponsor to fix her front door. Lena had the privilege of delivering the gift. Esmeralda lives in Vishneve—a town next to Kyiv. Lena took a bus to get there, followed by a long walk. When she saw Esmeralda again, she was thrilled to have a visitor. At that moment, Lena realized that her visit with Esmeralda would likely be a long one, but those are just the kinds of visits Lena loves.
Esmeralda is 88 years old and used to work as a typist at a huge factory. She used to devote all her spare time to singing with her beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. Esmeralda wasn’t just your average singer—she was famous! Lena says she’ll never get tired of watching all the videos and photos from multiple concert stages. You will see young Esmeralda in a beautiful garment in the picture below—she made all of her dresses herself. During Lena’s three-hour visit, their long conversations were often interrupted by her beautiful singing.
Esmeralda's husband died in 1993. She has two daughters who are 60 and 65 years old—according to Esmeralda, they both are rather sick. The younger, Oxana, lives in the same apartment complex so she visits her mother every other day. The other daughter and her daughter visit Esmeralda once a month. Oxana's son is a drinker and a couple of years ago was in a bad car accident—it breaks Esmeralda's heart.
Esmeralda has been an amazing grandmother. Both of her daughters raised their kids as single mothers, and Esmeralda was always there to help. She told Lena many stories about how she would do everything to help her girls raise their kids.
She told Lena a story about one day when she was hosting her teenage granddaughter. During the night, she got up and realized that the girl was not in her bed or in the apartment. Then she told Lena, "in the middle of the night, I rushed outside into the cold to look for my rebellious girl. It was only when I came back and found her in her bed after all, I realized that I was running down the streets dressed only in my satin pajamas." While listening to this elderly lady, Lena was humbled to see such a unique and powerful combination of strong will and a tender, caring heart—what a great example of sacrificial love!
Her apartment is also very clean, and the air is fresh. One tiny room is filled with flowers—both in pots and vases.
Esmeralda started crying when Lena brought her $150 from her sponsor. She exclaimed, "Finally, there will be a decent lock on my front door!" She usually uses a rope to keep her front door closed and it does not make her place very safe. She was delighted to get such a generous gift and VERY thankful.