Dear Supporters!

Thank you for being with us. We will continue to look for ways to help the family and the boy, but so far this plan has failed. We have reached a point where we are no longer able to see any possibilities of going on with the program and getting Lucas operated (if, indeed that is what he needs, which has now become an open question). Because of that, we have decided to return the money to our supporters. We are very sorry that we are not able to refund all of you and with the full amount. Part of the money has gone into helping the family stay in Iquitos during all the delays. Also, smaller part of the money went into fees. We are returning what is left and we hope that you can accept it in order to maybe help someone else.

If you are interested in the details, keep on reading below.

To all of you, thank you so much!

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Last year we have been trying to get Luquitas to be operated. The delays began when it turned out that the clinic's guest house in Lima is being renovated, and so they could not provide housing for Luquitas' mother. But if we found a place for her to stay, Lucas was ready to be sent at any moment. At some point in summer, the person responsible for the clinic's program of helping poor children has ceased to respond messages and receive calls.

Luckily, Łukasz has been in Iquitos a few times between August and October. He found that it was incredibly difficult to receive straight answers from the clinic concerning the constant delays.

First, we did manage to find people who would help the family if they went to Lima. Happy with the news, Łukasz went to the clinic to schedule the trip. There, he learned that there will be another month of delay because of a continuing event taking up time of all the workers. No surprise there, we have been patient with so many delays before.

Returning after the said month to Iquitos, Łukasz was told that the person managing the whole program is quitting her job. On top of that, the clinic's secretary told him that there would be no money for any more operations, and that the continuity of the whole program was questionable with the recent change in clinic's management. He was advised to visit in yet another month once things will have settled.

On this last visit, no news of the program. Accidentally, however, it turned out that the person managing the project before was still working at the clinic at another post. She explained that the money for the program have indeed been used up. Despite of us waiting with Luquitas through all the delays, at some earlier point, possibly due to a misunderstanding, the clinic decided that Luquitas' mother was not able to go and supposedly immediately sent another child in their place.

She also offered to try and make new arrangements with the new director of the clinic. In the process, we all learned to our dismay that there was no diagnosis in Luquitas' clinic history, and all the previous x-rays have been lost. The very same doctor who has been seeing Lucas for 2 years could not tell what was responsible for Luquitas' deformity until he saw the new x-ray. And therefore, he could not decide whether Lucas needed to be operated immediately, or once he reached the age of 10. This was beyond belief. No one could answer and would not ask on what basis has Lucas been admitted to the operation program. Since this was Łukasz's last day in Iquitos, he got Lucas to have his x-rays made and was promised that the doctor will see the boy once the pictures were ready.

Trying to get things done back from Poland became virtually impossible. Since Łukasz left, he was again unable to get in touch with the lady who offered to make new arrangements. Lucas' mother has been visiting the clinic several times, and never being able to find the lady, or be seen by the doctor. Łukasz has seen that she is not treated fairly or seriously in the clinic, possibly because of their village origin. She gave up and we can't convince her to try again. It does not help in her motivation that Luquitas so far walks on his deformed legs and supposedly does not complain. She is planning to see another doctor, but that will be another story.

Some consolation can be gained from the side effect of the whole plan. The family will likely stay permanently in Iquitos rather than go back to the river. This means better schools for the kids and some access to medical care (versus virtually none in the village). So if part of the money was used, it was still for the transition to the city, which might mean relatively better future for all of them.