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 9, 2012

Teresa Palax

(A-78) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: a bed and mattress, blankets, water filter, Onil stove, pila, table

Teresa works, cooks and sleeps in the same room, on a dirt floor with a tin roof.
She spends all day threading bracelets: for a bunch she gets $4.
Her bathroom is a hole in the dirt.
There is no water to drink, no water to wash. She goes to the community pila, a concrete basin, to
wash her dishes and clothes.
To have something to drink she'll carry dirty water in large jugs, far from her house.
Seven months ago she dislocated her shoulder, and now she feels pressure everywhere: her head, the sockets of her eyes, her stomach, her arms.
The doctor didn't cure her, she says, she has to go back.
She feels her bones swelling through her skin.


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