One of our sponsored families.

This family is typical of some of the families that we work with in Guatemala. There are five children in the family. The father, Victoriano works taking sand out of the river. It is one of the lowest paid jobs. He earns $20 US per week when he can sell his sand. The sand is used for construction. Some weeks he cannot sell the sand and there is no money for the family. Other weeks if it is raining he cannot work.

The family rents the house that they live in. It is $20 US per month. They pay $7 US per month for electricity and $2 US per month for water. This tin shed is their kitchen.

Their toilet and washing area has no walls, it is just plastic sheets for privacy.

The mother washes clothes by hand in private houses. She earns $2 - $3 US per day when she can get work. It can be difficult for her to find work because she has the young children and people do not want her to bring the children to their houses.

This is a pila, a 2 sided cement sink. This is where the family washes the dishes, washes their hair, washes their clothes and washed themselves. The big blue plastic can is used for storing extra water.

This is the kitchen . They are cooking over an open fire in a tin can.

They also cook over these bricks on the dirt floor.

The beds do not have mattresses. The floor is dirt and you can see where rain is coming inside the house and making the floor wet.

They have one closet without doors and they keep their clothes in this closet. Extra clothes they keep in cardboard boxes. They have one wooden table and two wooden chairs.

The baby was recently hospitalized with pnuemonia. Thanks to the sponsors of one of the children, medical care was made available to the baby and we were able to get the medication needed. But the family did not have any food. The children are malnourished. We were able to get some food for the family but they need on going help if the children are to have enough to eat.

This is one of the families that is being hit very hard by the increase in food costs.