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



Nov 19, 2012

Alberta Quieju



(A-49) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: water filter, pila, table, food
Previous stories about Alberta can be found here.
UPDATE June 21, 2013: Alberta receives blankets and sheets!
To help, click here. To sponsor Alberta for $35 a month, click here.
For more stories and photos of the ancianos in the Feeding Program, please consider purchasing a book compiled of our participants. All profits go to the Elderly. You can preview the book here.  

Alberta lives in her one room with her one son, who drinks away what he earns. 
These days, the only thing important to her is that she eats a tortilla with salt, since when there is no money there is no food.
A hundred bundles of sticks sit outside the house, around two broken concrete sinks: the former which fuel the fire for her stove and the latter which serve no one. 
Two beds take up most of the space in the house.
Two chairs sit there, denuded for lack of a table, surrounding a rooster on the floor that is the earth. 
She plans to kill it to eat it later, which is why it's tied to the chair. 
There's no sink, no shower in the house. There is no light and no running water.
They landlord will let her live within the mud walls and tin roof until she dies. As far as what her son will do then, God knows, she says. 



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