When natural disasters hit a small, poor country, the country is reeling for a long time and set back even further than it was before the disasters. It reminds us that we are lucky to live in a large, prosperous country. Our country is big enough that one natural disaster can't cover the whole thing. We have enough big cities that one natural disaster can't close our only international airport down for days. It would be like if the whole USA was the size of Louisiana and Katrina did what she did. Little Guatemala is a mess right now. Here's some of the scoop. And here is how we can help:
http://www.cliniclink.org/
http://www.commonhope.org/
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/
http://www.behrhorst.org/
When They Were Babies
1 comment:
Great links Lisen! I really enjoyed the article link. Mayan Families doesn't have much on the website yet about the disaster but I'm on the forum and they are doing a LOT of work already. Part of the MF office was lost into a river so they had to move to a temporary office and it doesn't have the internet infrastructure needed for all the updates, let alone having the time for the updates. Food is the greatest need. Many people haven't eaten since the end of last week. They were expecting more rains today I heard so the families that live close to the river can't return home until things settle down.
I am trying to raise funds to build a house for a young woman and her brothers. They lost their mother in 2009 to cancer and their father deserted the family when the youngest (age 5) was born. The only girl is ~17yo and she cares for her 5 brothers. She and her two oldest brothers work and they all go to school, thanks to sponsorships through Mayan Families. Their house was destroyed in Agatha. They have no place to go and I fear the younger ones will end up in an orphanage if help doesn't step in. I met this young lady last year before her mother died and was touched by her gentle kindness and strong sense of family and work.
Geeze it looks like I needed someone to talk to about what's going on in Guatemala! Sorry for the long comment!
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