A note from Dermod:

Recently, my granddaughter Acacia set-up a GoFundMe fundraiser on my behalf to surprised me. When she told me, she asked for some background information and additional contacts.

Six years ago, shortly after returning to Peru, I managed to fall off an elevated patio, landing head first into a stone drainage canal. I was primarily bedridden for the next three years. Still wobbly, I convinced myself I had recovered enough to complete a livable portion of the partially constructed house on my fifteen-acre cacao farm. I had a trench dug around my foundation to seal it, but I stumbled into it and broke my hip. This led to a surgery that, without intervention, would have left me unable to walk again.

For six months, while awaiting corrective surgery in another part of the country, I rented a bungalow in the city and hired a staff for 24-hour care. I was confined to a hospital bed I purchased, relying entirely on their help to manage my pain and daily needs. After the second surgery, I gradually progressed to a wheelchair, then crutches, now to a cane as needed and miraculously, I have managed to live independently for the last six months.

In a time of despair and fear, my oldest and dearest friend in Peru,Manuel, appeared and offered his support by coming to work and live with me while I still could not move from my bed. He took a two-year leave and a substantial wage cut from his work with the government as a Technical Consultant for cacao growers in remote rural areas to care for me and the farm. He rehabilitated my neglected farm and cared for me, handling everything from meal preparation to emptying bedpans. He and his family’s support were invaluable and now he is back helping others. I now have a family living in an adjacent house tending the farm and keeping an eye on me.

Up until now, I managed to cover my extensive medical expenses and turn the farm from a money pit into a profitable venture. However, Now I find myself just shy of achieving financial stability, which I am on course to reach with my upcoming cacao harvests in the next six months.

Until then, I lack the finances to sustain myself and to pay for essential daily labor and operations. I am focused on developing water security—both drinking and irrigation—by utilizing spring water and rain capture before the upcoming dry season in July. Your support will also help me secure permanent residency status in Peru.

My life remains as wacky and joyful as ever, this time by disrupting the status quo by diversifying a mono-cultural farm. I’ve reducing the amount of the primary crop but increasing its productivity. with a donation, how ever small, you can assist me in achieving my goal.

I remain inspired by poetry and prose, captivated by paintings and sculpture, entranced by music and dance. Yet, I am not a man of the pen, brush, or chisel, nor have I mastered string, skin or reed. My once-lively waltz has now become a low-tempo two-step. Still, I am well-practiced in binding the pages, stretching the canvas, partnering with light, breath and rain. I play in my corner, with seeds and muck.

With each tree cut and each flower planted, all the cast and crew – feathered or furred, slippery, slimy or scaled; monster or microbe– we all find our homes from the branches to the clay. In ecstasy, we devour ourselves in blossom and rot, knowing that our contribution, no matter how small or ephemeral, gives the right to say: What a party!

As a seasoned futz-around I grow cacao, bananas, mangoes and more—Happy, happy, joy, joy. Horseradish, it makes me gag, that's for Celia's field.

Perhaps from my beans, in a distant land, a beloved savoring a gift of chocolate, a soft smile emerges.

That makes me smile.

I’m contacting you with the help of others. I left social media and canceled my previous email account after being hacked, which caused me to lose most of my contacts. I would love to be recontacted and I will keep you all updated.

Contact: Phone/WhatsApp +51-986-856-228- Email: [email redacted]

With Graditude

Dermod

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If you know Dermod Downs, you love him—and he’s probably driven you a little crazy too. He’s spent years building his dream: a cacao farm in Peru. But he’s hit a roadblock.

My grandfather needs funds to finalize his Permanent Residency in Peru and complete the irrigation system for his cacao farm. His home—a true Mad Max-style masterpiece—still needs work, and he could use a hand getting everything across the finish line.

Let’s help him finish what he started. Any contribution brings him one step closer to securing his future and keeping the cacao flowing.

PHOTOS BELOW:

1. Manuel picking me up after a month in a hotel while I was in the hospital for corrective surgery. We flew home the next day with a layover in Lima.

2. Fredy in the cacao orchard

3. An open cacao pod.

4. From here the beans will go through a fermentation and dry process taking about ten days before selling.

5. The view across valley from my house.