Needing food for Christmas in Guatemala.

 Felipa Ramos lives in San Jorge la Laguna. She is 75yrs old.  Five years ago her husband died and she now lives alone.   One day a week she goes to the fields to pick onions or clean potatoes.   She earns $3 US for the day.  She works from 7.am and finishes at 6 p.m.     If the fields are far from where she lives, she cannot afford the bus fare so she has to leave a few hours earlier so she can walk there.
When she comes back from her work, she is very tired.  She usually cannot move very much the next day from pains and aches. She is only able to do this work once a week because it takes so out of her.
She takes her food with her but it is only chile with a few tortillas.   When she earns a little money she can buy a few herbs and vegetables.
Her children have large families and cannot afford to support her.
Felipa is photographed here with a bag of food that Mayan Families gave her.  She told us she is hoping for a Tamale basket this year so that she can have tamales for the holidays.


  These are just a very few of the people who are hoping that they will receive a Tamale basket for Christmas.  
These people are not sponsored and we are hoping that someone will want to send a Tamale basket to them.
If you would like to give a Tamale basket to one of these elderly women in honor of someone special, we will be happy to send them an email letting them know of the gift that has been made in their honor.  To donate a Tamale Basket ...please go to this link http://www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow , make a payment of $35 for community aid and put the name of the person in the paypal note.  Please send us an email if you would like to give a basket in honor /or memory of someone special.


 Cecilia Bocel is 83yrs old .   She lives in San Jorge La Laguna. She went blind at least 4 years ago.  Cecilia lives with a grand-daughter. The grand daughter and her husband have four children. They all live in one very tiny room made of mud brick.
Cecilia has a bed made of planks but does not have a mattress.  The bed is made of cement blocks and wooden planks....her grand daughter's son made the bed for her.
The grand daughter makes beaded jewelry and works in the fields when she can get work. She earns $1 US per day for the beaded jewelry and $3 US per day if she gets work in the fields.  She usually can only get work in the fields one day a week.  One day a week she goes washing clothes by hand in private houses. She does this work to be able to maintain her grandmother. She does not like to ask her husband to help her pay the costs for her grandmother as the husband barely earns enough to feed the children. Cecilia went blind from cataracts that could have been treated but the family could not afford to seek medical attention.
Cecilia says that her stomach and her head hurt a lot but they have no money for her to go to the doctor.
Cecilia would love to have a Tamale Basket for Christmas to be able to share with her family.  Cecilia is an adoptive mother. She and her husband did not have children. They were delighted to adopt their daughter, Antonia when she was 3yrs old. Antonia's mother had passed away.   It is Antonia's daughter that Cecilia now lives with.

Juana's husband died approx. 10yrs ago.  He died of cholera. The family could not afford medical attention for him.    3yrs ago Juana had a lot of pain in her eye and felt like her eye was swelling.  She put her hand up to her eye and she felt that her eye  actually fell out into her hand.  She was rushed to the hospital and they removed the rest of her eye.  She was not able to receive medical attention before she lost her eye.
Juana lives with her married daughter and three children. The family is very poor.
Juana is approximately 78 yrs old. She goes out collecting firewood in the mountains and sells the firewood on the side of the road. She earns approx. $2-3 US per day.  She can only do this work 2-3 days a week because it is so tiring for her.

Maria Felipe is approx. 85yrs old. She lives alone. She makes woven cotton wristbands and earns $3 US per week .    She cannot go out to work any longer as her feet hurt too much. Her main diet is tortillas with salt.  She collects herbs in the mountains to help her diet.  She has rarely eaten a small piece of chicken or meat in her life.
She used to eat tomatoes with her tortillas but the price has gone up too much for her to buy them.

She has  bed that is made of wooden planks and a straw mat. She does not have a mattress.

Maria Chipin is 69yrs old approx.  She lives with her husband who is approx. the same age.  They have one room that they share with 8 other family members.   She has a problem with her liver, she has gone back and forth to the hospital for treatment but is unable to buy the medications.  She is often bedridden and unable to move around.
She lives with her daughter who is very poor.
They have 7 children.
The family cannot afford medical treatment for Maria or the father.
Her son and his family have also come to live with the family. He lost his home in the mudslides this past year.
When she came to collect this bag of food, she was barely able to walk.  Maria would love a basket of food to share with her family.

Marcela Samines lives alone.  Her children have large families which they barely can feed, they help her as much as they can but it is not enough to be able to feed her.
The day this photo was taken her face was very swollen with a tooth ache.  She did not have money to be able to get medical/dental treatment for it.  She has been like this for two weeks.  We have arranged antibiotics for her and pain killers.
Marcela is approx. 88 yrs old.   She still goes to the fields to pick onions and potatoes.....she works two days a week and earns $3 US per day. This is the only amount of money that she has to buy food.
She has a bed made  of wooden planks with a straw mat.  Marcela said that she would love to have a Tamale basket so that she could make tamales this year.