Elderly Info

The food crisis in Guatemala is having a devastating effect on the elderly. Without enough to eat, many older people are becoming weak and malnourished, leaving them more vulnerable to illnesses that they cannot afford medical care for. They are unable to provide for even their most basic needs. In many cases, family members are unable to help as they struggle to feed themselves and their own children, leaving the elderly without any form of support and often living in heartbreaking conditions.

Please help us bring them the life-sustaining food and medical care that they so desperately need. General donations are used to ensure that we always have an adequate supply of food, medicine, and funds for meals, necessary medical treatment, and transportation. Monthly sponsorship would help feed one person, once a day for five days a week. Via blog and web album, we'll show you exactly where your aid is going and help you get to know the men and women whose lives you are changing.

If you would like to sponsor an elderly person for $35 a month, please click here and write "monthly sponsorship'' in the Other box. To make a one-time donation for medicine, rent, or other costs, please click here and enter "Elderly Care Program" in the Other box. Any questions can be directed to Amy at amy@mayanfamilies.org


Media on Mayan Families Elderly

Book:
Ancianos : Megan Gette + photos by Rob Bain, Nisa East, Rhett Hammerton and Hiroko Tanaka

Videos:
Mayan Families- Ancianos Stories : Nisa East

Mayan Families Elderly Feeding Care Program : Rhett Hammerton

Facing Hunger: Elderly in Rural Guatemala



Oct 24, 2012

Maria Felipa Coroz




































(A-30) Status: Sponsored
Needs: food, electricity, drainage, medicines
Past stories about Maria: click here.
UPDATE June 19, 2013: "If I suddenly die," Maria says, "where would they put these things?" She explains why she does not ask for anything. The problem now is the trail to her house, which is long and treacherous. The rain makes it worse, so she cannot leave to come to the dining center to eat. She says she tries to visit her son who lives nearby each day, since if she doesn't, it is a sign that something is wrong. Her son comes to the house to check on her then, if she's sick or has fallen. While Mayan Families had given her a stove, she rarely cooks, subsisting on the food brought from the dining center. Her kids have no money to give her, nor does she have a way to make her own. She uses a latrine shielded only by PVC pipe and some sheets.
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Maria Felipa lives alone, high on a hill, taking a hour to get to from town. 
Like many of the women here she has outlived her husband by at least a decade; her children are too poor to look after her. 
She lives without a shower, or a sink. 
She waits for the neighbor child to bring her a barrel of water per week. 
She lives without a table, or chairs. She eats in the bed that was a gift. 
She lives without a floor; four wooden, rotted walls surround the dirt. 
When she cooks, she kneels on arthritic knees and blows on the open fire.

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