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



Jun 18, 2013

Felipa Xingo






































(A-84) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: Meal sponsorship, medical coverage, water filter, home expense assistance
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-84 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor her for meals at $35 a month, visit: http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateMonthly.aspx

It is almost comical when Felipa describes her ailments as a chain of unfortunate surprises, then begins listing her medications, then pulls out prescription after prescription after prescription. The small table she sits next to houses bottles and boxes of pills, saliene, syrups, needles and more pills. "There are three things which bother me the most, and the rest is just a result of all of them," she says, "diabetes, chronic asthma, and pain in my joints."

"Just this week, my legs swelled up and I haven't left the bed. I'm taking these pills for the swelling. Yesterday I had a fever. I'm taking these pills for the headaches. I've been diabetic now 6 years. I get insulin injections. Asthmatic for 11 years, after making tortillas in the smoke all my life. I have this inhaler and this medicine for my lungs. And my knees haven't been good for a decade. So I take these pills for the pain.

Three weeks ago they rushed me to the hospital during an asthma attack. There were three of us in an ambulance, but we were going so fast that when we got to the city we crashed into the back of a car. The firemen who came took us to the hospital. They gave me a new inhaler and some saline solution.

A week later, I got a bladder infection, so I was given some antibiotics. But then I got diarrhea and they told me to take Pepto. Where do I get the money for all these prescriptions? I am trying to survive."

She has four children, and lives with one grown son who is in no state of financial security. He fishes when he can for a little income, but had lost his job a couple of months ago after breaking his arm. "I feel about to say goodbye to my children," Felipa says.

"My mother cries a lot out of pain. My brothers and I don't know what to do, none of us can find work these days. We can't leave her alone in the house just in case she gets an attack. Every month we take Mom to the Diabetes Club (at Mayan Families) to get her a check-up and insulin if there's any. She doesn't want to eat anymore because it makes her nauseous."

The little food they have comes from Mayan Families. They share the one meal a day between them.

If you would like to help Felipa with meal or medical support, please visit the links under the photo above. Thank you for your support!

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