Sunday, July 22, 2018: Sunday (Domingo) was reserved for my friend and spiritual brother (mi amigo y hermano espiritual) Manuel Acevedo Santiago. Manuel was one of the Raw Food Chefs at AWNHI for many years. He worked mostly in the student kitchen assisting teachers, grocery shopping and preparing some amazing all vegan raw – living dehydrated foods. (Crackers, pizza crusts, cookies, “hamburgers”, and other amazing treats.) One awesome treat he made was a raw living cake for my 50th birthday. The first photo below is Manuel and I with the beautiful cake he made me and the second is a group photo of some of our coworkers that came to sing and share some birthday cake. Back row left to right: Petra, Daniel, Lydia, me, ?, Belkis, Rosa, Kaelash. Sitting on the floor left to right: MaryAnn, Manuel, Sandra is waving, Lalita and Michael. The photos were taken on October 27, 2008.
Manuel also was the chef for the book Lalita and I worked on for months, “Candida Health through Living Foods”. We were co-workers at AWNHI, however, an event happened that changed our relationship forever. I believe it was in 2008 (all my files on this mission are in Texas). Colin Campbell, the author of “The China Study” called and asked to speak with me. I happen to be downstairs in the reception area and our receptionist, Teresa, put a call on hold and said, “Michele there is a Colin Campbell on line one for you. Do you want me to take a message?” I said, “Teresa, are you sure? The caller said Colin Campbell?” She assured me she heard him correctly. Teresa had no idea who he was, but I was quite familiar with his work. I said, “No, I’ll take the call right now. I’ll use the back office.”
I will cut this part a little short because the Dominican mission is an entire story on its own, but, the result was that AWNHI needed to send someone to the Dominican on a healing mission. All the healers were either busy teaching or on other missions, so Lalita and I discussed it and we decided that if Manuel accompanied me to do the food prep and growing, that between us we could handle it (remember, I was the ED, Not a healer). Manuel and I spent 17 days in the Dominican on this healing mission, and during that time, we created a bond that will never be broken. Here are a few photos of Manuel and I in the Dominican. One of him taking care of the sprouts and wheat-grass he planted and one of Jesus, (a family friend of the man we were helping) me and Manuel.
We were planning a trip to his home, or I should say the rebuild of his home. Most of the houses, well, all buildings really, are made of cement. It makes them withstand hurricanes and termites much better. Manuel’s house was wooden except for some reason the baño (bathroom) that was made of cement. The entire house was blown away / destroyed by Maria’s fury, except the bathroom was still standing. (go figure!) After many months, Manuel received money from Fema. It was enough to cover about 2/3’s of the rebuild of his one bedroom one-bathroom home. It’s still a work in progress, but it will be adorable when it is completed. Along with the bedroom, and the indestructible bathroom, there is a carport big enough for one car, a patio, a laundry port, a kitchen dining living area.
Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2015. Maria is considered the worst natural disaster on record to affect Dominican and Puerto Rico. Maria was a high-end Category 4 hurricane when it struck Puerto Rico.
As much as I was looking forward to seeing my friend, I was a little apprehensive. You must remember, Manuel speaks very little English and all these years later, I speak very little Spanish. Understand, I had no idea how we would be able to communicate without Google, but I had to see mi amigo y hermano espiritual. My worries were needless, as always, we found a way to communicate and had a great time.
The photo of Manuel is more recent, I borrowed it from one of his FB posts. The other photo was a selfie Manuel took of us inside his casa. I also took this from one of his FB posts.
As did Sandra, Manuel also wanted to say hello to Leola when he dropped me off. Leola lives in one of the Institutes apartment buildings. This specific one has 4 units. A one bedroom and a two bedroom on both the upper and lower levels. For years, Leola lived in the lower one bedroom. She had moved into the 2-bedroom the year before because her daughter Anita was scheduled to join Leola in Puerto Rico for a season. If you have been following this blog, you are aware that dear sweet Anita never made it to Puerto Rico, however Leola was still in the 2-bedroom. It was so funny, hysterical really – Manuel assumed (of course, who wouldn’t) that Leola was still in the lower 1-bedroom. The windows and door were open with just the screen door closed. Manuel headed to the one bedroom yelling loudly, “Leola! Leola, es Michele y Manuel! Leola!” And he proceeded to walk right into the apartment that some student was renting. Oh my gosh, I was laughing so hard I could hardly talk. Somehow, I managed to yell, “Manuel! Aquí! Aquí! Manuel, Leola es aquí! Finally, he heard me and stepped back out of the apartment. He was jabbering away in Spanish, I’m sure defending or explaining himself how Leola always lived here. OMG! It was so funny, it still makes me laugh. Leola was taking a siesta when we arrived, but that didn’t stop us, we went into her bedroom to visit. When I told her the story of Manuel bursting into a student’s apartment all three of us laughed almost until we cried.
Miss Leola was extremely happy to see Manuel, and even though we woke her up, we had a great visit. Manuel promised to make a living foods dinner in his new home for Leola, Lalita and I when I return to Puerto Rico. I will try to get back to Puerto Rico next season, but life is just so darn busy, who knows if it will happen? Maybe a quick trip? Who knows….
The next Puerto Rico post will be, A couple of book-ends! Take care and thanks for tagging along on this journey.
5117 Melbourne St., Unit 4103 