Home, to me, is a place of comfort, relaxation, healing, safety. While I love road trips and traveling, after a few days I feel the pull... nothing beats the feel of returning home. When I’m sick, all I want to do is curl up in bed under the covers, toasty and warm, with occasional excursions to the kitchen for hot tea or broth. I’m lucky — my house is nice and warm and well insulated; I can have a steaming hot shower at the touch of a faucet, and hot tea/hot food with little effort on my part.
Now, imagine that you have multiple chronic illnesses, and you’ve caught a nasty bug; could be flu, could be pneumonia, either way, your energy is completely sapped and your mentally fatigued. That would be bad enough in the best of circumstances; if you lived in a nice house like mine that was able to provide some small amount of comfort to you. But imagine trying to function, day after day, when you live in an old RV and the winter winds mean that the water hoses freeze and you don’t have hot water (and even when you do have water, you have to go outside (in the freezing cold) to light the pilot for the water heater to get about five minutes worth of hot water. Add to that the fact that brownouts, an electrical cord sold as suitable for outdoor use that was not, and years of weathering on said cord caused an electrical fire that would have been fatal had it occurred slightly earlier, when people were sleeping, and you can start to imagine, perhaps, how while survival in such a place might be possible (at least for a while), it is certainly not conducive to good health.
This is the situation Aji & Wings are in. Their manufactured home was repossessed in 2010. The RV has been ‘home’ since then, but as the years wear on, the RV is no longer suitable for long term habitation. Aji & Wings are getting older, chronic health issues are still there, compounded by the difficulties of day to day living in the RV. They haven’t been able to shake the bug they picked up at the end of last year, because how can you get healthy when you don’t have a warm bed, hot water, and peace of mind? Crowdfunding a house is their only chance to escape this situation. They have the land — ancestral land from Wings’ family. Thanks to earlier fundraising stages, the shell of the house is built, and drywall is up. There is still interior work to be done — flooring, fixtures, appliances, (re)wiring.
The good news is, we’re less than $2000 away from closing out this stage of the fundraising. Even better — we have a pool of matching funds from several anonymous donors that totals $1000! I’ll have more ways to help below the fold, but first — here’s the link to their YouCaring page.
Times are rough, and we know not everyone has extra funds. But many of us have social networks in some form or another. My main social outlet is here, at Daily Kos, hence this diary. But helping spread the word, either through this diary or directly from the YouCaring page, by posting to FaceBook, Twitter, E-mail Groups, or other online forums you’re a part of (and by republishing to groups here, as well as rec’ing & commenting), helps greatly. You never know who will see the fundraiser as a result and be moved to contribute. Other ways you can help:
- Donate directly to their You Caring fundraiser (Note — Although YouCaring suggests a small donation amount to them for site operations, it is possible to set this to $0 and the donation to Wings & Aji will still go through).
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- Or if you prefer, donate via PayPal directly on Aji’s blog.
- They have an Amazon Wishlist set up for things they need either on a day to day basis or for the house (such as the Lowe’s Gift Cards).
- If you’re in the market for amazing jewelry or wonderful photographs, Wings has many beautiful things for sale on his website, NDN Silver by Wings. (This diary has a search to find the assorted photos for sale, as well as tips on navigating the website.)
- If you already own something by Wings, consider leaving a client testimonial.
- And again, let me reinforce, shares are extremely important; you never know who may see the fundraiser and feel moved to contribute.
Finally, some pictures of the work that's happened in the meantime:
(Footnote: The Houses of Healing are from Lord of the Rings, and in the city of Minas Tirith; however, Elrond’s house in Rivendell seems to me a more wholesome place of healing, so I used that for the picture. As Bilbo said, "His house was perfect whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley." and "A little sleep does a great cure in the house of Elrond.” This is the wish I have for Aji & Wings; a home that is perfect for their needs, that they can rest in and replenish their souls in, and be safe in.)
Wednesday, Mar 8, 2017 · 3:00:23 PM +00:00
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Avilyn
From Aji’s blog last night:
I feel like I'll never be able to breathe properly again. Never stop coughing, either.
This tin can isn't helping. No insulation, and the gaps around every opening let in the cold and the dust, and when the winds are what they've been the last two weeks? And none of that even includes the fact that this whole place is riddled with both formaldehyde and mold. Yes, mold. Wings had to saturate the bathroom with bleach again. It grows on the floor, a product of all the leaks in this place. Seven winters is more than six winters too long.
Please, please, please share this diary and/or the YouCaring fundraiser. It’s critical that we get Aji & Wings into a house that is not actively harming their health. Thank you.