Maria Germana

(A-11) Status: Sponsored for medicine
Needs: Meal sponsorship, water filter
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-11 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor her for meals at $35 a month, visit: http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateMonthly.aspx
A previous story about Maria and her blind son, Victor, 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. 

"Some 30 years ago, he woke up dead in a field," Maria talks of her late spouse, "he'd drunk himself to death. He'd had a good job working construction, even made friends with his American boss, who promised him a piece of land. They searched and searched. We were so happy when they found something we could afford. But the American made the deed in my daughter's name, not mine, and when my husband died it went to her. So. I have nothing. I have this bed from Mayan Families, the closet from someone else, and between the two a little space to walk. There's no real room to put anything else. I've suffered a lot, but asi es la vida, como una sufre." 
This is life. How one suffers.
She had seven children, and lives in her son's house with his wife and three daughters. Three women share a small bed. The others have all but abandoned their mother. Those living on the other piece of land manage a small store selling second-hand clothing from the US, caring for their own large families.
She takes medicine for high blood pressure and she feels the onset of arthritis. But what does one do? She says, only God knows.