Mayan poverty

the following is an interesting little quiz to give you an idea of what your life would be like if you lived in Los Robles where our facility is located or in any of the Mayan villages around the Lake. One. five million people live like this in Guatemala.

So few people really know what it is like to live in a third world country...so here's a little exercise in third world living...it makes me truly feel blessed...how about you???

1. Take out the furniture: leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair. You've never had a bed, remember?

2. Throw out your clothes. Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.

3. All kitchen appliances have vanished. Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful of onions, a dish of dried beans. Rescue those moldy potatoes from the garbage can: those are tonight's meal.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and the lights and everything that runs by electricity.

5. Take away my house and move the family into the tool shed.

6. By now all the other houses in the neighborhood have disappeared; instead there are shanties - for the fortunate ones.

7. Cancel all the newspapers and magazines. Throw out the books. You won't miss them - you are now illiterate. One radio is now left for the whole shantytown.

8. No more postman, fireman, government services. The two- classroom school is 3 miles away, but only 2 of your 7 children attend anyway, and they walk.

9. No hospital, no doctor. The nearest clinic is now 10 miles away with a midwife in charge. You get there by bus or bicycle, if you're lucky enough to have one.

10, Throw out your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies. You now have a cash hoard of $5.

11. Get out and start cultivating your three acres. Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops because your landlord wants one-third and your moneylender 10 percent.

12. Find some way for your children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days. But it won't be enough to keep bodies healthy - so lop off 25 to 30 years of life.

Can you imagine? Unfortunately this a realty for so many living in Guatemala and countries around the world? Can you step up and out of the box to help be the change in the life of a child? Can you spare some change to feed a family? If so here's your chance. Click on the donate button and make a contribution so these children won't have to find work and they will still have a meal!!
Posted by Vanessa at 8:58 AM 4 comments
Friday, July 3, 2009
FFF--HOME

I hope this blog works. I just did 5 pictures from our June trip. I hope you can feel the need and want to help and pray for the people and for us. They are all from the women's meeting I had. One hundred plus women showed up on just a one day notice from our worker Jose spreading the word. The first picture is of the pregnant woman who has a bad case of herpes on her whole face and is going blind from it. She needs serious medical attention and a drug called cyclovar. Anyone want to help her?
The next is the elderly midwife for the community. She has given birth to 17 children, 9 of which are dead. She is a sweetheart and needs a birthing room to deliver in rather than the cold, wet dirt floors of the womens' houses. They can't use the bed because too many other people sleep there or probably because there is not a bed. Any takers here? Help a mom deliver in a nice clean bed in a nice clean room Next, I think is Edit, the 3 year old we found on her dirt floor. We got her to a doctor and got her a wheelchair. All told the visit cost us $100, but that included her monthly meds and Incaperina to improve her nutrition. Any sponsors for her? Last is one of the babies we are giving formula to because the mom has no breast milk. Any takers to save a babies life. Might look good on your resume someday. We have 15 now we give formula to once a week. A big can of formula that lasts two weeks costs $16.00. I think there is a fifth picture , but I can't remember what it is and right now it looks like goobly gook. Hope they look like pictures when they come thru.
My daughter Hannah is doing a lesson on nutrition and why veggies are good for you to the lunch kids tomorrow. We are going to start using Steven Covey's program from his book " The Leader In Me" in our tutorials. Hannah is having another women's meeting on Fri. I know the women will want to know have we forgotten them or are we progressing to help them. I got 40 more cans of formula this week and some meds from a great group. One of our lessons at church today was on charity. Please consider giving; give for the wonderful feeling it gives to you and because it maybe the most important thing you do next week.
Vicki