prjSMAC HISTORY: SEPTEMBER 2018
Nieves Cuellar Chacón, one of the characters whose story is intended to be told here.
After a long period of having very little to no idea about how to undertake the prjSMAC assignment, a crucial and tragic event happened that triggered the quasi-official birth of Saint Michael Archangel Universal Congregation. This is the story:
For some time I had been thinking that maybe the project could be brought to life by creating an animal shelter; firstly because, in my opinion, spreading word of the need to protect animals is one of the most urgent needs of the planet (no need to explain why) and secondly because part of the mission of Saint Michael Archangel Universal Congregation is to fight fiercely for animal rights. But I knew that dream couldn’t be attempted to be fulfilled in the short term because of the total lack of funding.
In this picture, Don Joselito is at my mom's house, where I live. He used to visit us every day for the last couple of years of his life.
Then it came September the 20th, 2018 (over 3 years since I was given the assignment). It was about 8:00AM on a regular Thursday. Don Joselito Cuellar (an 82-year-old neighbor who lived about 2 blocks far from us) and I finished having breakfast in my mom’s (she’s 92 and I have lived with her, my sister, and my dad [before he died back in 2009] almost the whole time since I came back from the United States, back in 2007). After breakfast, my sister told don Joselito that she wanted to give him our old tv set because we had been given a new one and he didn’t have one. He was very excited about it, so I told him I’d help him carry it to his home. I grabbed the tv and started to walk, with him behind me. When I arrived at his home, I stood at the door, waiting for him to arrive. I looked from the distance but he wouldn’t show up. At that moment, Diana, don Joselito’s tenant, came out of her room. I got busy talking to her and then, all of a sudden, I heard somebody crying out: “Don Joselito is dead.” I looked in the direction that I heard the voice and there was my sister who had come behind us and found him lying in the middle of the road.
Immediately, I went to get my brother-in-law, so we could take don Joselito to the hospital in my brother-in-law’s car. So we did and when we arrived to the hospital, they said that they were going to send an ambulance. Minutes later, the doctor said that don Joselito was already dead when we got to the hospital. We live in the country, about 10 minutes from town, but apparently he died instantly because his pants were wet and he had a strong smell of pee when we were waiting in the middle of the road for my brother-in-law to come. Apparently, he had lost sphincter control.
As far as I know, he died from a heart attack; though I didn’t see the death certificate. I’m very sad about what happened to him, so I, here, want to express my sincerest condolences to his sister, nephews and nieces. So far, I haven’t known about any more family of his. May don Joselito Cuellar Chacón rest in peace!
Don Joselito's shanty which he built himself. As a matter of fact, the government built part of it after he had already built the left side of it. He lived in the side that he built.
Don Joselito lived in a shanty he built himself (at least most of it), with tenant Diana, about 5 hens, 1 rooster, 1 female dog (Mariposa), 2 female kitties (Mota and Tigresa), a big male cat (who I want to call Tabaco), and a female cat (Nieves) with her 5 newborn kitties; in the hamlet of Majo (pronounced Maho) (Garzón township, Huila, Colombia). He was pretty much an animal lover, to the point that people would bring animals they didn't want for him to take care of them and he would. I also was told that he liked to feed the hens but he wouldn't kill them. He didn’t have any income except for 80,000 pesos (about 26 dollars) the government gave him every 2 months and 50,000 pesos (about 16 dollars) every month from the room he rented to Diana; so he virtually had to rely on whatever the neighbors gave him and on what he could grow on the edges of the land behind his shanty, which is a property of ex-senator for the departamento of Huila, José Antonio Gómez Hermida. As far as I know, the piece of land was donated to don Joselito for him to build his home.
2 of the newborn kitties (Browny and Igor). In this picture, they haven't even opened their eyes completely.
After don Joselito’s decease, there was nobody to feed the animals, which made me feel very sad. It didn’t take much time for Saint Michael Archangel to enlighten me, so I thought it would be a good idea if Saint Michael Archangel Universal Congregation could take upon itself the task of taking care of the orphan animals. But there was no time for thinking or anything because they needed attention right away; so with zero budget and the permission from don Joselito’s heirs (his sister and her children) I decided to start cooking food for them. The cats still dwell at don Joselito’s kitchen, the dog by the bathroom, and the hens and rooster on the edge of the senator’s land (all of them can come out or in freely except for the newborn kitties), so I go there about 5 times a day to deliver their food (because there are problems with the mom feeding the baby cats).
And that’s how Saint Michael Archangel Universal Congregation was born in the intense heat of September 2018 and the hospitable shadow of don Joselito’s kitchen. We were actually thrown into this assignment, having as the only warning the fact that my mind had been wandering in that direction.
I know nothing about taking care of animals, but I will have to start learning (feeding, birth control, medical attention, vaccination, etc.) because the orphans are now prjSMAC’s responsibility and prjSMAC so far is only Lucha and the other hens and chicks; Browny; Nieves; Tigresa; Mota; Tabaco; and I. Thanks God they still have a shelter at don Joselito’s kitchen. Unfortunately, I can’t take them to the house where I live because my mother, the house’s owner, wouldn’t let me do that.
Since prjSMAC is a vegan project, this undertaking, which will probably be called “Refugio San Miguel Arcángel (Saint Michael Archangel Animal Shelter),” definitely has to be vegan too, but I’m new to veganism, as well. So far, I’ve read that animals can be vegan too, but I still have to inquire more. Being vegan is not easy for prjSMAC because we can’t afford to reject anything we’re given in order to cook the food for the animals; so the vegan part is going to have to go slowly.
As soon as we can, we have to officially create the Refugio San Miguel Arcángel: RESMA and take care of as many of God’s needy animals as we can rescue from the streets or any other undesirable situations. PrjSMAC wants to have as its mission to create shelters (or the like) for people in state of homelessness or other needy situations, but that’s something that requires time and resources to be accomplished.
The original COSMA plan was starting project Without Border Foundation first, but God and the course of events determined that the opportunity of helping these beautiful creatures in great trouble was a more urgent need. Human beings have been devoted all throught history to enslaving them, murdering them, and making their lives miserable (With few exceptions); all because they can't defend themselves. So everything got set up for the start of prjSMAC to supersede the original plan as the takeoff of COSMA’s projects. We’re so relieved to confirm that God is (and will be) guiding our steps all the way towards the realization of COSMA’s vision.
