Dedication - For My Angels

     More than fifty years ago, my Papacito built a school in Sonsón for the children of his workers and those who lived nearby in the mountains of Colombia. Today, that school, Centro Educativo Rural Tasajo, named after the river that runs near it, still educates the children who live in surrounding villages. Three dedicated teachers enlighten forty-two young minds each week through the basic study of reading, writing and arithmetic. Recently, the school purchased five computers and its first bus to carry students up and down the mountain.

     My parents firmly believed in the importance of education and serving humanity. Their generosity was well-known to those who lived near our farm, and each Saturday, the less fortunate would line up outside our home to wait for the sacks of potatoes and other produce they knew my Papacito would give them to feed their families. In his wisdom, my father knew that feeding these people was not enough, that without education the lives of these good people would never change. Because of his good works, children for five decades have had the opportunity to live a better life through the education provided at the school.

     It is with respect for the memory of my parents that I dedicate the net proceeds of this book for as long as it remains in publication—both the English and Spanish versions and any other language in which it might be published—to the following organizations in Colombia:

     Centro Educativo Rural Tasajo
     Corporación Pueblo de los Niños.
     Fundación Apoyo Cancer Infantil
     Fundación Patronato de María Auxiliadora
     Fundación Social Antorchas de Vida
     Amigos de los Limitados Físicos
     Corporación Santa María de la Paz