Santiago Bocel

(A-75) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: Meal sponsorship, food, disposable diapers, wheelchair or walker, water filter, sheets, blankets, closet, roof repairs, Ensure or other fortified supplement
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-75 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor him for meals at $35 a month, visit: http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateMonthly.aspx
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. 

"They are like children now," Santiago's granddaughter says over and over as she explains how she cares for her grandfather. "It's been about a year since he fell, since the doctor told him that he'd die soon and that it'd be better to leave him in bed. He can't walk now, obviously, and his feet have some kind of infection-- swollen, parched feet-- ah, mira, see how he suffers. He can't do anything for himself. I come back from washing clothes all day-- he doesn't eat unless I'm around, to leave the dish on the bed for him-- I come back and have to change the diaper, change the bedding. They are like children now."

Santiago's wife also lives in the tiny house with his granddaughter and her four children, but "they don't get along." She sells a little in the market during the week, but complains that her husband never had a cent to give her a good life, never gave her anything. "She's a bit capricious, always giving her heart to strangers," said the granddaughter. "More than anything we want to make sure he's comfortable, if he's going to die. We'd taken him to the hospital, but since they said they can't do anything for him, what else can we do?" Even though her husband works as a security guard, a relatively good job, "even his income can't cover it all for us." Her grandfather needs medicines, "for pain, gastritis, a lung infection, and vitamins for strength."

"I had to leave my full-time job so I could care for my grandfather and the kids both. I look at my own family and hope we have it better than they did. I look at them both and think to myself, "what did they do to get like this? How can it be different for me?"