Fidela Pinzon

(A-82) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: sponsorship for meals, diapers, insulin, medicine for high blood pressure, vitamins
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-## [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor her 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.

A girl who is wiping dishes answers Fidela's door and leads us through an empty hall to Fidela's room, where we are greeted first by the smell and then Fidela. She tears up, says she is happy someone came to see her. "I want to walk, but I can't," she shakes her head, "I want to eat but I can't." She yells for the girl-- Angela! Bring me a chair?-- and waits for a response, then yells again. Silence. "She must have gone. I need to get out, but who is there to help me?"

Angela comes a few times a week to clean. Fildela had 10 children; one comes to visit when she can, bringing her mother diapers or other small necessities.

"I can't do anything for myself. I want to get up, I get up, I fall down. What can I do?"

She's seen a doctor for her sight, her high blood pressure, her bed sores and other pains, and her diabetes. She also has a wheelchair, but this, the meds and diagnoses "don't do much if there's no one here to help me with them."

We are sitting a foot away from here, and our faces are like ghosts, she says. Everyone looks like a ghost. "I sit here sola sola sola-- alone alone alone. I'm afraid of going blind."

Mayan Families brings her food each day, and when there are funds, diapers or medicines. While her daughter helps with the expenses of the house, Fidela needs more regular care from someone like Angela or someone else to help bathe, clothe and feed her.

However, providing regular sponsorship for necessary meals, diapers, and medicines would help out Felipa immensely. It costs her daughter $62 a month for diapers and medicines. This is an additional cost to the $35 for her meal sponsorship. This amount of money is huge to families making $3-$5 a day, and more often the family will ignore illness if they can't afford its treatment. If there is any way you or someone you know can help with these costs, please visit the links at the top of the page, or email familyaid@mayanfamilies.org with questions.

Thank you so much!

Miguel, Manuel and Maximiliana Matzar

(A-24 Miguel) Status: Sponsored for meals, saline solution, diapers, Ensure
(A-25 Manuel) Status: Sponsored for meals
(A-26 Maximiliana) Status: Sponsored for meals, Sponsored for insulin
Needs: regular sponsorship of catheter adjustment (A-25), medical sponsorship for all three, stipend for Iris to care for them full-time, blankets
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-## [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
A link to previous stories about the three siblings 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. 

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UPDATE May 24, 2013: Miguel received a new mattress!

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UPDATE May 24, 2013: Because Miguel A-24 is totally bedridden, must eat in bed and often soils the mattress, Dona Iris found a nest of baby rats in the bed yesterday. In addition to this being a completely unacceptable place to sleep, a Guatemalan myth exists that rats could be an omen of death. Dona Iris is doubly concerned, since Miguel is not eating or responding, that he will die soon. Mayan Families is providing a temporary foam mattress for him, but a new mattress would be hugely appreciated. He needs a single mattress, which is just $44 US.

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UPDATE May 23, 2013: Manuel (A-25) was taken to the doctor and told Iris that it is incredibly dangerous to wait so long to have his catheter adjusted. He had an infection, and was given medicines for this; Iris explained that she must wait for money to arrive before she can make the journey to Xela with him, but the doctor said that waiting could cause need to have another more serious operation, which cost the family over $1,300 last time. We received funds for the next adjustment two months from now, and covered the cost of some medicines. However, to prevent the wait for funds next time, we would like to have Manuel sponsored for these medical visits. It would cost about $384 a year to send Manuel for these catheter readjustments. 

UPDATE September 12, 2013: This week Manuel (A-25) went for his catheter readjustment and there were some unforeseen transportation and medicine costs. Manuel is in need of $50 to cover these costs. We are also still looking for medical sponsorship ($96 every 3 months/$384 a year) to cover these catheter readjustments costs.

UPDATE: October 17, 2013: Yesterday Maximiliana's sugar became very low and she had to be taken to the hospital where she began to slip into a diabetic coma. The doctor was able to give her some medicine to stabilize her and fortunately she was able to leave the hospital and is back in her home today.

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"I have abandoned my own children, because their children abandoned them, and they have no one else," says Iris, who is the full-time caretaker of her two uncles and mother. Last month, Iris had gotten sick and was bedridden for days. "There was no one. When I recovered, Miguel's bed was completely soiled, they'd barely eaten, they needed to be washed. Someone from the Assembly of God had come by to check on them, to help them."

In the yard, several small houses comprise the area where Iris and her family live. Miguel and Manuel sleep in the room where we talk, which is just big enough for two twin beds. The ceiling is covered in cardboard, to keep out the rain.

Iris's husband still lives with her in the house, along with their six young children, but "it's like he's not even there." He has a drinking problem and does nothing for the family. Iris's siblings have their priorities, and left her the responsibility for caring for the three. She taught herself how to be a nurse, how to care for her diabetic aunt and disabled uncles. "The doctor told me, when Miguel had his accident, that 'he was going to die.' 'He is going to die' is not the way to answer someone who is fighting for him."

"Miguel isn't eating well these days, his back hurts from being in the bed. A woman comes to help me bathe him, to get him in and out of the wheelchair. He can't take pills, can't eat solid food. We have to make it into liquid for him. He has a hernia, and some kind of lung infection. When he breathes, he sucks and sucks."

The three need constant medical attention: in addition to Miguel's deterioration, Maximiliana is still recovering from a stroke she suffered more than a year ago, and is in need of insulin to control her diabetes. Manuel must go every one or two months to have an adjustment made to his catheter. When asked what they need most, Iris is quick to describe the costs of their medical care. "It costs me to get to the doctor, every time the apparatus is adjusted, to come back from the doctor. It costs to have insulin, to have a saline solution for Miguel, to have Ensure or another kind of liquid protein. These are things without cures. These are things without an end. The need is constant."

Fortunately, to help Iris, a volunteer working with Mayan Families is assisting in caring for Miguel, Manuel and Maximiliana. A couple of days per week she bathes them, feeds them, and passes the time with them. Three generous sponsors have also made it possible that the three will get meals each day from Mayan Families, and thankfully receive much-needed medical support.

However, because the problems are merely balanced and not solved, Iris still must seek help when emergencies-- or even routine medical procedures-- arise. Manuel is due for another catheter adjustment, this Friday, May 17, which costs Iris $67 for transportation, the procedure and the meds. Maximiliana is covered for meals, but not necessarily her insulin. Miguel is always in need of diapers, towels, and blankets.

"I try to give them what they need," Iris says, "but I look at my own kids, and what I'm unable to do for them. Will they do the same for me?"

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?"

Ancianas receive Mother's Day gifts!

All of our Ancianos in the Program received bags of food for Mother's Day.

They were so thrilled to have these necessary supplies given to them by generous donors!

Socorro Guit (A-94) smiles with her gift.

Isabela Rangel

(A-27) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: Medicine, meal sponsorship
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-27 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor her 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. 

"Two of my children don't talk to me. The other two aren't in a place to help much." She's been living alone 40 years since her husband passed away. She feels depressed, having no one really to talk to, but "not alone. Everyone has an angel." She offsets her medical costs-- for high blood pressure, gastritis, nausea, a heart enlargement, back pain and pain in general-- washing clothes for the Health Center for about $25 a month. She's been washing clothes, it seems, forever, except for when she got sick with pneumonia two years ago. "I really can't stand the pain," she says, "I have to have the medicines."

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.

Lucia Chumil

(A-19) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: Meal sponsorship, water filter

To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-19 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
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. 

"Here look at me," Lucia stands up from her chair and bends over, putting her hand out for an invisible cane. "Look at me, my back, I'm all bent over."
More than this, she says, she can't see, her feet hurt, she's sure she has gastritis and her bones ache and ache. She gestures at the sky when talking about her pills, "no relief! No relief!" Or her few possessions, "I have nothing, nothing, nothing." 

She gets her water from the tap and if it wasn't for the food she gets from Mayan Families, she'd eat "one, two tortillas a day. I worked all day everyday making them, 10 years ago, hundreds everyday. But my hands don't do that anymore."
She lives with her granddaughter and her husband, who plan to move soon to a house at the river. Lucia doesn't want to go. "They don't have any light! What am I supposed to do in the dark?" Though she has her own piece of land there too. "I feel bad because they let me stay here with them, but I don't want to move in to the new house. There's no one else to care for me, so what choice do I have? The rest of my days, alone in the dark."