Maria Jacinta

(A-91) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: meal sponsorship, fuel-efficient stove, diabetes and other medical care, bed and mattress
To help, click here. To sponsor Maria for $35 a month, click 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. 

"8 of us share three beds without mattresses. The house is made of wood and tin." Maria's daughter describes the house she shares with her mother, sister, and their children. Maria's husband, the grandfather of the house, "sleeps on the floor, usually passed out drunk and dirty."

Following Maria's stroke three years ago, the sisters take turns giving their mother full-time care. Maria does not talk well, walk, nor use her left arm, despite many therapies. "They charged for each visit, and after a while we just couldn't pay." Her wheelchair, from being pushed around outside in the grass and dirt, does not push well.

The sisters try to make it by washing clothes or making tortillas for a little income. However, because their mother is also diabetic and their small children are in school, they often do not have enough money to pay the $67 in rent and electricity per month, or have food in the house besides what Maria gets from Mayan Families at lunch.

If you would like to help Maria and her family make ends meet, please visit the links at the top of the page, which will direct you to Mayan Families website. Please specify "rent, medicines, food etc." in the Other box. Thank you!