Hello! I have an urgent request to make of you. My family and I need to move from Cuenca, Ecuador, to Penang, Malaysia, as soon as possible. Having lost 3/4 of my income during Covid, I am asking you as a friend or an acquaintance to help us with a donation to afford this move, where we will have work. We’ll be deeply and honestly grateful for any amount you can contribute. 

My name is Michael Pinchera. I’ve been teaching elementary and secondary Waldorf classes since 1981(my 28th year), and training and mentoring teachers in the US, Ecuador, China, and Malaysia since 2016. Here in Ecuador, I am one of 3 expat padrinos (godparents) to a new budding Waldorf school, which has grown to include 1st and 2nd-grade classes. In 2018-19, I was involved with a program to learn how to set up personal growth retreats and designed a couple of retreats based on biography work, utilizing arts and movement.

In 2020, changes in the world began, due to Covid. My income shrunk by 75% as a result of travel restrictions. The retreat I had planned had to be cancelled. Since then, I’ve used up my saved earnings from China. My online involvement which pays annually, also shrunk by more than 50% this last year. Two years later, it became clear to us that life in Ecuador is not sustainable for us.

Although financially trapped in Ecuador, I have a job waiting for me in Penang, Malaysia (I’m supposed to start in May, though if necessary I’ll be able to start in June), there is a school for 14 year old Leon (we’re home-schooling), there is a house that Chelsea, my wife owns, interest expressed by several people in my paintings, and there are readily available places to hold retreats. This is great! But, we have no money to make the move. We’re reduced to my social security payments, sporadic fees from workshops, and Chelsea’s all-day online translation work.

Our lives will drastically change by receiving your donation. Once in Malaysia, both Chelsea and I will be working, able to have Leon in school with peers, and I’d be able to afford health insurance for myself. I’ll be free to serve teachers, students, and the school community in Penang, and Kuala Lumpur, and to serve the larger community with workshops and retreats. Another great plus is that my daughter and I will be able to visit one another (she lives in Sacramento, CA). We haven’t seen each other since 2020! Once working, we’ll be able to have more regular visits. This includes my wonderful step-sons, Muir and Jarré, in Portland, whom I haven't seen  for even longer.

Why you may ask, are we moving our belongings and my teaching materials, instead of just stuffing our clothes in a few suitcases and leaving the rest to fate? The main reasons are that the school really needs my materials, and also that I am an artist, and my art requires that I have access to my easels, paints, and other such things.

Let me be direct with you: I need to raise $13,000 to make this move, reconnect my wife and her son with her extended family, teach my Waldorf classes, and continue with my life as an artist. We honestly have nowhere else to turn. The well-being of my family, my future students, and myself depend on your kind generosity.  

When you donate, you also subscribe to the updates about the progress of my family and students in Malaysia. We want you to see the ongoing results of your donation, so we promise to share monthly updates about the impact you are making.

Thank you so very much!