A Disaster Overlooked

While the world's attention is riveted on the BP oil tragedy,  a terrible catastrophe south of the border is overlooked. The earthquake in Haiti touched many hearts.  This disaster has not drawn the same press but these are our brothers and sisters too.  Speaking of...my sister Caroline asked me to post this.  She is the former owner of Palmetto Hope, one of the three top Guatemalan adoption agencies, which had to close when Guatemala shut down adoptions.  But her heart, (and the two children she adopted from Guatemala), is still firmly lodged in this beleagured country.  So without further ado this is her post:

I received a message tonight from my friend Sharon Smart-Poage, an Australian who with her husband Dwight Poage and friend Patti Mort are founders of the charity I volunteer with, Mayan Families, located in Panajachel, Guatemala.  Mayan Families serves thousands of desperately poor people in the highlands of Guatemala.

Sharon and Dwight lost part of their house as a result of the devastation of the area this past weekend by Tropical Storm Agatha. Many people have lost their homes.  Entire communities have been wiped out in mudslides. 

These dedicated volunteers are serving people in remote areas that government and international aid has not reached almost a week after the storm hit. For several days they have been hiking for hours at a time to reach villages that are now inaccessible because of the mudslides to give out food, clothing and supplies.

They are helping to dig out the bodies of people killed in the mudslides. They are providing medical care to the injured and helping to bury the dead. The area is now under threat of more mudslides and loss of homes and lives from a mountaintop that is collapsing due to the torrential rains.

Look at that river...

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Please help us get the word out and ask people to make tax deductible donations. These are people who live in poverty and now they have lost their homes, their livelihood, their crops, and in some cases their lives. According to UNICEF, “Guatemala has one of the worst nutritional conditions in the region. Nearly 23% of children over three months and under five years of age suffered from general malnutrition, while almost one-half suffered from chronic malnutrition in 2006.” These residents of the 2nd poorest country in our hemisphere are now more at risk than ever.

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.

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'd get to him.

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 4 PM we realized that our own homes 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 and started evacuating.

The house next door belonging to Manuel, Estella and their 7 children was in immediate danger. We rushed to rescue as much of their possessions as we could.  We then watched in dismay as the house fell into the water. Then back to Mayan Families…..we were blessed. A man from San Jorge came down with his pick up. He worked in the pouring rain taking many loads to the preschool where 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.  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  fallen away or were unusable. Thanks to the U. S. Engineer Corp who built this bridge in the 40s.  It is the only bridge that has 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.

.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.  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.

Our employees all evacuated as much as they could from their homes and then came to work. 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.  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.

Despite having to evacuate the offices of Mayan Families we are trying to help people.  Since Monday, thanks to your generous donations, we have been able to distribute food and clothing.   There is such a need. So many people have lost their homes. So many people are without any food to eat. Then there is the terrible sadness of people who have lost loved ones in mud slides.

Yesterday we arranged an operation for a young woman with a badly damaged shoulder.  The family had lost their home and had nothing left and could not pay.  The operation was urgent otherwise she would lose mobility in her arm.  When we sent our case worker, Eddy, to the hospital he learned that not only had she lost her home, but also 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.  In the bed next to her is her mother in law, a 70yr old woman, who lost her husband, her adult son and her home. Both are very battered.

We have been feeding 800 people a day in the villages above Solola. There has been no help from the goverment but we are hoping some came today. A health clinic was set up and is giving cholera vaccinations. The Mayan Families crew and volunteers were exhausted after giving out food in these areas.  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. Thank you for the donations of clothing, blankets etc that we were fortunate enough to have on hand.  We are in need of boy's jeans and pants, jackets, and shoes in all sizes.  We have no more baby clothes and blankets.  We need funds to be able to buy second hand clothing for families who have lost everything.  We need funds to pay rent for people who are living in houses full of mud with walls that have fallen.

Today, Eddy visited one of these houses. 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.  It was hard to breathe in the house for the mold. The little girl already has a bad cough from being there. 

Our “Garden House” rented as a shelter for two single mothers has been deemed unfit to live in because it's at risk of a huge mud slide. The families are now living in the emergency shelter in the gymnasium in town.  They cannot afford to pay rent.

There are so many sad stories……the staff at Mayan Families has been amazing. Despite having suffered great losses they have been working day and night since this disaster happened. 17yr old Glendy, who lost her mother last year to cancer, also has a house badly undermined. The river now is at her doorstep. She and her brothers had to rent 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  hastily constructed on the land their grandmother caretakes.

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.  The crew has just returned from giving out food in San Antonio. They are sore from bouncing  in a boat with no seats. San Antonio is devastated. Lime is strewn over the areas where people have died.  People's possessions are lying 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 boy's clothing for older boys 4-12 years old. We need shoes.  Tomorrow morning we will begin packing bags of food again. These bags will be going to the people of Panajachel who have lost their homes. Sunday we will pack more food.

As long as you can help us with donations, we giving food to families in need. The people are in desperate need of help.  Please give...every little bit helps and will make a huge difference to the people who receive this assistance.  Go here to donate.  We thank you.