aardwolfe,

Interesting thoughts, sounds like your uncle handled it pretty well. It must have been a bit awkward for a while until he was able to negotiate a happy medium.

IIRC Ben Franklin was not overly prone to lending large amounts of money, typically stating something along the lines of, if I make a number of small loans and tell the borrower to repay me by making a subsequent small loan to someone else in need, then I've helped many more people that if I make larger loans to fewer people.

It's been several years since I read that, and I don't recall the exact quote, however the general gist is evident. Actually, I've used this a couple of times and it seemed to be acceptable.

Pay it forward...interesting concept, the movie ending had pretty mixed emotions involved (happy/sad).

Comanche7

My experiences in Ecuador have been similar. It seems that those of little material wealth are often the most generous, sharing what little they do have with anyone who has shown any interest in them and their situations. One of the most touching moments in my entire life was in a small village many hours north of Quito. We had traveled some pretty mountainous and rough roads to get to this remote town called Tumbatu. We set up our free health clinic at the school and had seen approximately 50 patients, nothing real serious, when this elderly lady who I had seen early, with no real significant medical problems other then those associated with aging, a hard life and some general malnutrition, walked back and gave us a bottle of Coke. She said she could not pay us for our services, but knew we would be thirsty, so she bought us this bottle of soda. We knew that this purchase probable represented close to a week’s worth of her income and we all felt beyond words and very humbled by her act of kindness.

I'm adding to tips for using phone cards

Keep in mind that you can even make local phone calls with your phone card too, just remember to include the area code when dialing the number you want to talk to. This is especially useful if you come to a pay phone, but have no change.

Using phone cards on cell phones to make long distance or international calls:
Keep in mind every minute you have a connection will be deducted from your phone card AND you will be charged per minute by your cell phone carrier.

paramedicpete,

It's moments like those that we really get rocked back on our heels. My own guess reading between the lines here is that she probably then walked back home, likely several hours to a day by foot. I would hope not so far, but from several other medical folks that I've spoken with over the years, some of these folks often walk days to bring their families to these free clinics and doctors. Kudos to you and the others involved in this worthwhile project.

Respectfully,
Comanche7

Angels come in all shapes and sizes. Most important are the lessons we learn from them and then pass on to others.

What a fine story.
Thanks for sharing it.

Adding some more info to the original post.

Some phone card companies have a feature that allows you to set up speed dialing for a number of telephone numbers. This may be of use in an emergency situation. You can store your emergency contacts on the speed dial system.

So here's the card I've decided to add to my emergency gear.

The Sam's Club 3.47 cent per minute card.
Here are it's features.
-No Experation Date
-Voice Dialing
-Operator Assisted Dialing
-No First Minute Surcharge
-International Calling
-Rechargable (credit can be added to it) Can be recharged using an automated system or with a live operator.
-Speed Dial

It is the only card I've found that has all of these features.

And for those interested here are the numbers you would use when calling from Mexico and Canada.

From Mexico dial 001800-462-4240 or 01800-288-2872 then the PIN and the area code and 7 digit number in the US.

From Canada dial the toll free access number of the phone card and use the card as you would if you were calling from within the US. If that does not work dial 1-800-CALL-ATT / 1-800-225-5288