Crisis in Guatemala:
Saturday morning the pouring rain and the hurricane warning made us all nervous. We got in supplies of extra water and propane-gas and made sure that we had enough food for a week at least.
This was our big concern….it hadn’t been raining enough, we thought, to worry about evacuating but we did get our important papers together and made sure that they were in a suitcase.
Around 10.am. we received a call from Aqua Escondido that Ernesto and his family had received a huge amount of mud into their home and they needed help. The road was already blocked and we told him there was nothing we could do. Ernesto is a paraplegic and is in a wheel chair. He was very scared.
We told him to move out, stay with family and to hire some people to start digging the mud out and as soon as we could we would get to him and pay for the workers. We still have not
We organized workers to dig out the mud in front of our pre-school. It was dirty wet work and it went on for hours. Julio and Gloria were helping to evacuate houses that were in danger of flooding
At 4pm we realized that our own houses were in danger.
Several of the Mayan Families employees had the same problem, Gloria, Julio, Sandra, Juan, Letti and Amelia all live close to the river.
Several of us rushed back to Mayan Families and started evacuating. The house next door belonging to Manuel, Estella and their 7 children was in imminent danger. We rushed to rescue as much of their possessions as we could. We got nearly everything out and watched in dismay and disbelief as it fell into the water. Then back to Mayan Families…..we were blessed to have help.
A man from San Jorge came down with his pick up and his two children we sponsor. He worked in the pouring rain taking many loads to the pre-school were we were unloading everything. He refused to take any payment in return for this work.
Just as it was getting dark, the wall fell away and the river claimed our bathroom, guestroom and flight of stairs. For you who have visited it is outside the house on the far corner.
We were all very nervous, not knowing if the bridge would stand up so that we would be able to cross back. The other bridges had already either fallen away or been damaged and were unusable.
Thanks to the US. Engineer Corp who built this bridge in the 40’s, it is the only bridge that has consistently stood up to the wildness of this river and connected the two sides of the town.
The noise of the river, boulders, trees, debris and the crash of the buildings falling was unbelievable. While the damage is not as great in Panajachel as Hurricane Stan in 2005, the river was higher and wilder. It was frightening.
Just when we thought we would not be able to get everything out of the house…..another father of a sponsored student and five other men and women drove up and said that they had come to help us.
The father of the sponsored student had borrowed a large truck from where he worked and made his way to help us.
In the pouring rain all these people helped us evacuate.
I had nothing to offer them in exchange. I couldn’t even find my purse to pay for the gas. They told me that they didn’t want anything, they were happy to come and help us as we have given them so much help. It was very humbling.
Gloria, Julio, Juan, Sandra, Amelia all evacuated as much as they could from their homes and then came to help Mayan Families.
We were all drenched, muddy and exhausted by the end of the day. We stayed at Patti’s apartments taking up all the beds, couches and floor spaces available.
On Sunday, we organized as much as we could, sorted donations etc.
Monday we were in action. Well, most of us, I fell down some wet steps and sprained my ankle badly. Since then I have been confined to a lounge chair keeping off my foot. We do not have internet in the new house and so this has been even more frustrating. I know there are lots of emails and we will try and get to them and answer them as soon as possible.
Despite having to evacuate the offices of Mayan Families and move everything to another location we have been able to respond to the crisis and help people.
Since Monday, thanks to your generous donations we have been able to distribute food and clothing.
There is such a need here. So many people have lost their homes, all their belongings. So many people are without any food to eat.
Then there is the terrible sadness of people who have lost loved ones when mud slides devastated their homes.
Yesterday we arranged an operation for a young woman who has a badly damaged shoulder. The social worker at the hospital had called us asking if we could help her. The family had lost their home and had nothing left and could not afford to pay for the medications and materials necessary for the operation.
The operation was urgent otherwise she stood the chance, we were told by the doctors, of losing the mobility in her arm.
When we sent our case worker, Eddy to the hospital he was very saddened to learn that not only had she lost her home, but had suffered the tragedy of losing her three daughters,12, 9 and 7yrs old. She has a little girl 5 yrs old and a son 1 ½ yrs old that were saved. The father is also in the hospital with injuries suffered when the house collapsed.
In the bed next to her is her mother in law, a 70yr old woman, who lost her husband, an adult son and her home.
Both of them are very battered from injuries received in the storm.
We have been feeding approx. 800 people a day in the villages above Solola. There has been no help from the govt. arrive as of yet but we are hoping some came today. There was a health clinic set up quickly and they were vaccinating people against cholera.
The Mayan Families crew and volunteers were exhausted after giving out food in these areas. They came back feeling that they needed to go back the next day and give more food because there were so many people in need of food. The desperation of the people receiving the food was haunting for all of them.
Today we are in San Antonio giving out food and clothing.
Thank you for the donations that you have sent. This is enabling us to give food to the families. Thank you for the donations of clothing, blankets etc that we were fortunate enough to have on hand. The Medrano-Zuleta shipment arrived just in time to be able to help a lot of people.
We are in real need of clothing, boys jeans and pants, jackets, and lots of shoes in all sizes.
We have given out all our baby clothes and blankets.
We need funds to be able to buy second hand traditional clothing for the families who have lost all their possessions.
We need funds to be able to pay rent on people who are living in houses that are full of mud and with walls that have fallen down.
Today, Eddy visited one of these houses with volunteer, Vanessa. The family is living very close to the river, the house is full of mud, several walls are missing but they have nowhere else to go. Eddy told me that the smell was overwhelming, that it was hard to breath in the house for the mold. The little girl already has a bad cough from being there.
This is going to be the situation with many of the families that we work with.
Our “Garden House” that we were renting as a shelter for two single mother families has been deemed unfit to live in as it has the risk of a huge mud slide coming down on it. The two families are now living in the emergency shelter in the gymnasium in town. We need to find a room to rent for them and need funds to be able to put them somewhere safe. Neither family can afford to pay rent.
There are so many sad stories……the staff at Mayan Families has been amazing. Despite having suffered great losses for many of them, they have been working day and night since this disaster happened.
17yr old Glendy who lost her mother last year to cancer, also has had her house badly undermined. The river now is at her doorstep. She and her brothers have now rented a room.
Julio and Gloria, Juan and his family, Letti and her family have moved out of their home, it is too dangerous to live there, the same with Amelia. They are now all living in wooden shacks that they have hastily constructed on the land that the grandmother is a caretaker for.
Juan lost the land and house he was building. He had borrowed money to be able to construct the house. He now owes a lot of money on something that doesn’t exist.
This will be a sad story that will be repeated by many others.
The crew has just returned from giving out food in San Antonio. They are tired and sore from bouncing back in boat that had no seats.
San Antonio is devastated. Lime is strewn over the areas where people have died . People’s possession are lying forlornly in the mud. A man asked for help to find the bodies of a woman and two children. The townspeople have given up. The mayor said that they are exhausted from digging. But this man is in deep grief and wants the bodies of his family. Tomorrow we sending a group of 10 volunteers to help try and dig for the bodies.
We need lots of boys clothing for older boys 4-12yrs old. We need lots of shoes.
Tomorrow morning we will begin packing bags of food again. These bags will be going to the people of Panajachel who are in need, who have lost their homes. They will be distributed the same day.
Sunday we will pack more food.
As long as you can help us with donations, we will be packing food to give to families in need.
The people of Guatemala are in desperate need of help.

A Volcano erupts spewing ash, closing the Airport, Tropical Storm Agatha devistates Guatemala, a new sink hole is found in Guatemala City that swallows a 3 story building and on June 4th we just experienced a small earthquake!

Please give now, even just a little….every little bit helps and will make a huge difference to the people who receive this assistance.
Please go to: http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateOnline




and go to General, "Where most needed" and give a family hope.
Forward this, post it to Facebook, Blog it, share it and help us spread the word!
Thank you for all you are doing to help the people of Guatemala!

On the 25th a small group were going to visit a sponsored student and then the orphanage. I wanted to see the orphanage and take some toys and books I had brought down. Susie from mayanfamilies suggested that the orphanage would be a grat place to take them.

When we got to the home of David's student I realized it was the brother of Hilary's sponsored student. David is the brother of Beth whom I have only know from our MF yahoo group and finally got to meet. It was the first day I did not have my camera w/ me so I downloaded the pics from Beth's camera.

We then went to the orphanage and what a pleasure that was. These are all children who come from very painful backgrounds. They were very excited about the toys and books which I purchased at places like Big Lots for very little. The items included a game for the older children that my friend Kim donated and they loved the toy guitar that Lisa from our teem brought down.

Included in the toys were chalk, jump ropes,playdough and childrens books in Spanish. I loved it when the first thing they went after were the books. The older students were reading to the smaller ones.

We then dicided to demonstrate the chalk and jump ropes. Susis drew a hop scotch game and everyone had a great time w/ that. There was jump roping and several budding artists drawing w/ the chalk. The whole experience was a blast.

On the teams last full day in Guat. we headed to Antigua at 8:00 AM so we could have some time there. It is a lovely colonial city w/ lots of ruins from an earth quake in 177?. We arrived at Hotel Aurora...my favorite.... and since it was to early to check in we went walking. Jolene was not feeling well enough to go so she was going to stay in the lovely garden at the hotel. The staff at the hotel are so nice that when they found out they made a room available for her right away.

We went to lunch a Frieda's Cafe as in the artist Frieds Kahlo. They have great natchos and marguritas. On the way to Frieda's we got to see some of the preperations for Samana Santa..Easter week... where they make carpets out of colored sawdust that the processions will walk through. They are beautiful. Then back to the hotel for rest. Everyone was too pooped to explore. We had wine in the courtyard of the hotel and relaxed until supper.

For supper we ate at La Fonda where they have a traditional Guatemalan chicken soup. It is awesome and everyone enjoyed it. That is those who were able to keep the rumbly in thier tumbly at bay. And back to the hotel for an early night.

On the morning of departure there was a little drama. The chicken bus drivers were striking because of gas prices. The shuttle companies kept saying they couldn't get through. I talked to Sharon at mayanfamilies and she had a driver already at the airport so we knew it was possible to get through. I talked to our shuttle service and we agreed they would try. They breezed through w/o any problems. I then headed back to Panajachel for a few days of rest. I also was told they wouldn't be going but found a service that got me there.

This trip was a most rewarding experience and I hope to do many future ones. You might consider joining us next time.

Guat Trip Day 6

We started out the day very leasurly with coffee at El Dorado the I took them on a shopping tour of the places I buy from. All of the store treated them to the same wholesale price as I pay.

Some of us then went and had lunch. A street vendo named Teresa came and wraped our heads w/colorful head wraps. Then she proceeded to teach us how to do it ourselves. It was lots of fun.

A restfull day was called for since some of us were feeling a bit puny. We all hung out at my place in the evening. To bed early for our departure in the morning to Antigua, Guatemala ( not to be confused with the island).

Day Five

This day was very full and had much excitement. I went to the hotel and picked up Jolene and Maureen to take them to the mayanfamilies Pana. pre-school to help w/ the medical clinic. If you follow mayanfamilies blog you will see the details.

The rest of the group met at my house and once again we jumped (some of us crawled) into the back of a pick up and headed to the home of a single mom of 5 children to install a stove. While the stove was being installed several of the team went to the market and bought provisions for this family. They had nothing in the house except corn to grind. We left a very happy family.

We then proceeded to mayanfamilies head quarters ( Sharon's house) and met a family we bought food for. The mother is very ill after having part of her lung removed. The word the grandmother used to discribe her translated to ornament. She can't do anything. We also gave them clothing and shoes. It was mentioned that the children were not sponsored in school. Hillary spoke up and said she wanted to sponsor the oldest girl. This young girl proceeded to throw her arms around Hilary and thank her. Needless to say Hilary was reduced to tears.

The little girl from San Jorge preschool who had heart surgery was also there to pick up her new traditional clothing the team had pooled together to buy her. She was so beautiful in it.

Then off back up to El Barranco to visit the homes of the students the team sponsored up there. We made a quick stop at the Pollo Comprero for take out on the way. Almost all of the chhildren we visited had gifts for their sponsors. Jill's family's home was fairly new construction of cement block but they had nothing else. We are taking a chunk of the money her cousin generously dontated to buy them a stove. Where they cook was inclosed and none of us could take all the smoke in there from the open fire. Also they sleep on a woven mat on a concrete floor. A bed is next on the agenda.

While we were at the home of a student another came to us in tears because she was afraid her brother had cut his finger off cutting wood w/ a machete. We took off over there and Corey, our token man, who is a trained first responder took over. It was Lisa's student so ofcouse she was in tears. The boy did brighten up a good bit when she pulled the soccer ball she brought for him out of the bag. Susie our mayanfamilies guide called for a truck to take him to the clinic in Pana. He ended up with several stiches and is going to be okay.

We returned to Pana much later than expected so Mathilda,the caterer, was already at my house. Thank heavens my house keeper, Maria, has a key and met her there to help. We had a lovely party and a great end to a great day.

Day Four

Today was one of those fun days. We went to Chichicastanego for the world famous market. It is color overload. I unfortunately didn't take many pictures because I have been there enough times to not think about it now. All I did for the day was show the team a few sites and let them loose. They apparently did well because there were quite a few bags stuffed in the van when we left.

A friend from Portland, Oregon, Judy Jones, met up with us in Chichi and will be with the team until Sun. She is then going to be taking Spanish lessons in Antigua, Guat. for two weeks.

Before we left Chichi Susie from mayanfamilies called me to let me know there was a Tuk Tuk ( 3 wheeled taxis ) strike. The Tuk Tuk drivers were protesting some road changes so we were not sure we were going to be able to get back into Pana since they had the roads blocked. The team felt they may need to stop along the way to grab some libations so Oswaldo our driver found a tienda for them. As it turns out the strike was over by the time we got there but the ride became more exciting. Everyone cleaned up and we had dinner at the Sunset Cafe.

Day Three

Today was packed full. My friend Louise had two of her friends here visiting from Canada, Wayne and Carol. They decided to spend the day w/ us. First we went to San Jorge pre-school and took clothes, shoes, toys and some hand made books that Julie's Aunt donated. They were made by the 6th grade students of the school her aunt is the principle in. They were in Spanish and the kids loved them.

There was only one little girl that wasn't in traditional clothing at the pre-school so the team collected enough money among themselves to be able to buy her a new traje. She recently had heart surgery and was very listless. We look forward to seeing her in her new clothes.

We had lunch at Pollo Comprero in Solola and then headed to El Barranco where we had a stove to install. But first we got to shop w/ the women of this community who are weavers of beautiful textiles. And a couple of the girls got to try their hand at making tortillas. That pretty funny!!!! Then the children performed. They have formed a folkloric dance group to hold onto their traditions. It is a delight to watch.

After the performance it was mentioned that not all the children were sponsored. So we asked which ones were not and thirteen lined up. Between the 10 people in my team and three other visitors all thirteen of the kids present were sponsored. It was a very emotional moment

We then proceeded on to install a stove for an elderly couple and their 18 yr. old grandaughter. We drove as far as we could then proceeded on foot for quite a long way. The girls carried the concrete blocks on their heads like the locals. Before we finished it came a downpour, but stopped before we had to leave. By the way I use "WE" quite loosely. Julio of mayanfamilies really is the one that does most of the work.

It was an emotional filled day w/ lots of tears and all of them tears of joy.