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



Dec 5, 2012

Andrea Felipe Buch

(A-64) Status: Sponsored as of July 2, 2013!
Needs: probably food, an Onil stove, a water filter, a bed and mattress, blankets
To help her, please click here. To sponsor her to eat each day at $35, click here.
A previous story about Andrea can be found here.
A video featuring Andrea's granddaughter Claudia, who lives with her, can be found 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.  

When we arrived to visit Andrea, to ask how she was and what she felt she needed, she began to pass herself back and forth on her feet, wringing her hands.
I do not want photos, I do not want to talk, she said.
We had walked up high over town across a long road on its boundary through piles of trash, over tin roofs just placed on top of their mud walls, through crowds of dirty children, chickens and dogs.
The path to Andrea's house had been reinforced by sticks and nails so that one might walk and not fall toward it.
The door was open and showed an interior devoid of all the things necessary for living: a bed, somewhere for water--even a jug--a table or chairs, food or clothing.
It was dark, without windows, and the outside awning held a rolled-up tarp I imagine she uses as a door when it rains.
She doesn't let us speak to her either, the cooks from the comedor told me. A neighbor leaves her lunch for her on her step.

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