The Family that Touched Us...
On the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, our group traveled to Agua Escondida via boat and pickup truck. In Agua Escondida, there is a small community where we have installed 7 ONIL stoves and also supplied the money for 2 basic houses to be built this summer.
We were at 7,500 ft. above sea level. We got there at around 3:30pm in the afternoon and started navigating the hill that would take us to a group of 8 homes built into the mountainside. They are very basic homes and sparse inside, but they provide shelter to the families.
I noticed a couple of families that we had given food baskets earlier in the week. In one family, the kids and mom were wearing the same clothes they had on on Monday.
Gloria, one of the managers of Mayan Families, was with us. We were there to install 5 ONIL stoves - and before long Gloria was communicating to me through a translator that there was a husband and wife, parents of one of the ladies that lived in the community, that could use a stove. She asked if we could give one of the stoves to them, and I quickly said yes.
I had no idea how that simple conversation would affect me. I started down to their house...pretty much at the very bottom of all of the houses. It was a steep dirt path - and the daughter of the parents made some "notches" in the path for us with a hoe so we could go down a little easier. I have seen a lot over my years in Guatemala, but I was not prepared for what we saw.
The husband and wife had a traditional campfire stove with one pot and one kettle. I asked what they had to eat, and was told that they had atole, a drink made from corn. I saw one ear of corn and have to assume it was a very weak version of the drink.
Next I took in the rest of their shelter. A tin roof was held up by some thick branches. There were multiple pieces of plastic hanging down from the roof. Many were threadbare, and they didn't completely enclose the area. Inside the shelter there was bed frame with a blanket covering the wire frame (no mattress). There was no electricity, water, bathroom, or any comforts.  
This was the totality of the husband and wife's possessions beyond the clothes on their bodies. It sure does make all of my possessions pale in comparison. How do I reconcile all that I have vs. the total lack of possessions and basic needs that I was witnessing?
It is not often that I see people unable to do the work that we are doing (i.e. carrying the concrete blocks and other pieces of the stove); however, this man was so weak from malnourishment that he became overcome with fatigue quickly. When I look in the eyes of the people, I can often see a little "light" at the very least. This was one of the few families I have seen that looked completely defeated.
I got to work installing a stove - and had another special moment as a young girl came up and put her arm around my waist as I worked on the stove. I somehow held it together.
As we left we gave them 2 of the homemade blankets, along with some corn, rice, mosh, and fortified cereal. It was getting cold up on the mountain so I was glad that they would have some warmth from the blankets - and some food for their stomachs. The gentleman gave us a smile as he held his blanket and food - the first I had seen on his face that day.
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| The steep hill back up to the road. |
However, this isn't the end of this story. I, and others, have been unable to get this family out of our minds. As a group we decided to take some of our extra funds that were left over from the trip (about $300) and see if we could make a more substantial shelter for them. It was determined that we would need about $315 more (beyond the original $300) for the home (a concrete floor - important during the rainy season- and wood walls). A mattress costs about $58 and a food basket is $40. The Board approved the money this week - so we will make a difference for this family. We hope our motto of Service. Compassion. Hope. is being utilized and in the end providing hope to this family - a sense that they matter in this world and others care about them. If anyone else would like to provide them with food for future months, the cost is $40 for a food basket.
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| What the home will look like after (it will be smaller). |
I don't know if we have captured their story - or if the pictures do, but I sincerely hope it gives you a glimpse at the least.
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Open House
End of Year Giving
Angela and Matt with their sponsored student and her family. We found out at lunch that the parents volunteer to teach others in their community how to read and write. The father works taking sand out of the riverbed - a very hard, manual type of labor.
