STORIES
Ramos Family
Philippines ( 2016 ~ 2022 )
“ I met Lyca Ramos on Facebook in the year of 2016, she had a baby girl named Kendra, they were having trouble paying rent to a Landlord who rented them an old brick house. The rent was around 2,500 pesos, 50 USD each Month. There was no running water or electricity in the house. I think I helped them pay the rent one or two times, and then I thought to myself, I should instead offer to buy the house for 25,000 pesos, or 500 USD; when the Landlord agreed to this deal, and I decided to have the house deed put in Lyca’s name; since I was not sure I would live long enough to go live there, nor was it worth the trip to see the house before buying it -anyway.
I continued to send the Ramos Family money from time to time, I wanted to make sure their little daughter, who was one year old at the time, had food in her stomach and a safe place to live. After a few Months of helping this Family, their little girl Kendra got real sick from drinking dirty water that they were getting from a pumping station located in the center of their city. It seemed there was no screening or filtered system set up there to stop the flow of bacteria, parasites or microscopic worms living inside the water they were drinking. The child started to get real sick and was throwing up worms that were growing inside of her. I told the mother to get her to the Hospital right away, and for the next 10 days Kendra was in a Hospital bed suffering from some type of intestinal infection. The Doctor was giving her all kinds of medicine to kill the parasites the were eating the child from the inside out. She eventually recovered nicely, and fortunately, I saw no signs of brain damage or hindered spirit, she was still the happy and fun loving child I had chatted with many times on the Facebook’s Cam-Video or Skype. I was so relieved this little girl had another chance to go on living another day!
After that critical episode had passed, I asked the mother to run a water pipeline into that house, I of course covered all the expenses. I requested that they add 3 different filters to keep the water fresh and clean from any type of dangerous parasites or bacteria that can potentially be traveling into the house through the water.
To this day, I continue to support the Ramos Family and help them whenever I have some extra income to share. And as the years passed… I bought clothes for the child and paid her Monthly fees to start school and learn all she could, given her circumstances. Also, I have being trying to help the mother start a local business there, by buying her a new Washer & Dryer to do the neighbor’s Laundry for a little extra income.
Lyca Ramos has become skilled in painting designs on other women’s fingernails. At times, she would travel throughout the city looking for customers to do their nails just to make enough money to feed little Kendra something to eat each day.
One day, Lyca bought and fed raw fish to Kendra, and guess what? The fish had worms in it! The next day Kendra was throwing up and had to go in an emergency to the Hospital yet again, in addition to having to stay there for over 2 weeks; she almost died that time. The good thing about the Philippines is that everything is so inexpensive. I paid the Hospital bill for those 2 weeks and it was around 25,000 pesos, or 500 USD. The only bad thing -at the time- in that particular situation was that, unfortunately, I did not have the money available for a few days, and the Hospital had a Security Officer standing by the exit door which would not let them, or anyone, leave until they have paid their bill in full. So, the Family had to camp out in the Hospital’s waiting-room for 4 days until I had the funds to pay little Kendra’s bill and have her released from the Hospital with her Family.
I have always being reminding the mother, Lyca, to watch Kendra more closely. I told her to keep the child away from sick people and never eat other people’s food, and or to stop buying uncooked food. Now with the Covid-19 virus surfacing, it has scared everyone into keeping to themselves and that is a good thing to remember; that way this young child would not catch a cold or get sick from someone else’s bacteria or virus passed on just by even being nearby.
To conclude: The mother rarely asked me for anything unless she was desperate. Once… she asked me if I could buy a mattress for the child, they had been lying on cardboard boxes on the floor at night while they slept, I was more than happy to send her the money to buy one. Then, to my surprise, I found out that the woman down the street was charging them 3,000 pesos or 60 USD a Month to use some of her electricity. They were using 1 or 2 light bulbs at night. Frankly speaking, I hate greedy people, so I sent money for her to pay the city 12,000 pesos or 250 USD to put in a break box for her house.
After many years of me watching over this Family, the mother and I have developed a wonderful bond and friendship, and now I feel I can trust her to honor my decisions when it comes to investing in the Philippines.
Lyca, the mother, one day showed me a picture of a beautiful property for sale, with a two story house blueprint design; the bottom floor was ideal for a store, and on the second floor was a two bedroom house. Considering that at this time of my life I am getting close to the age of 68 years old, thankfully having a consistent income flow, I thought to myself, I want to leave a positive and memorable Legacy behind me -so thinking further about this Family -after all the suffering they have endured, the mother and daughter would be more respected in the neighborhood if they had a place like this particular property with this new house to do business in the future.
SO…
I DECIDED TO GIVE HER THE OK TO BUILD IT!
It has cost me around 250,000 pesos, or 5,000 USD. This is the most EXPANSIVE yet INEXPENSIVE building I have invested in. The labor for a top contractor was 850 pesos or 17 USD a day. Furthermore, Lyca brought in other workers with half of those wages to help out. And, boy, this Storehouse is starting to look like a one Million USD building. If this construction was done here in the USA; of course… depending on the location, it cost up to one Million USD to build this type of expansive building.
" I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!! ”
Story By: L. JAY BAKER
“ I am Lyca Ramos… I just want to thank L. Jay Baker
for his tireless help to our poor here in the Philippines.
He is the only one who raised my daughter Kendra
since she was three years old, now Kendra is seven,
going for eight years this April 26. L. Jay also helped
with school for my daughter and gave us a two story
house even though it wasn't finished and there was no
roof, doors and or windows when he bought the house
for us. I'm happy. I have nothing else to ask for but to
finish building the house and for me to have a daily
livelihood income or business.
I just want all of you to know how smart L. Jay is, and
that he loves us.
Thank you very much again, L. Jay to you and to the
people who are ready to help those of us who have a
difficult life. ”
