Tragedy in Patanatic, Guatemala.

Yesterday afternoon, tragedy struck in Patanatic. A very large family that we have several children sponsored in, including 6 children who are orphaned being raised by their aunt...had very little to eat. They were very happy to have a woman pass by selling herbs .....they grandmother bought them for the children for lunch. The grandmother left the herbs with her daughter in law to prepare, she went off work washing clothes in a private house.
Her daughter washed the green herbs and prepared a soup with the herbs. At 3pm all the children had a soup of the herbs.

Around 4.30pm. the daughter in law said her little one, Mayda 3yrs and 2 months old, who has been in our milk program for 2 years, started crying and complaining of a stomach ache. She started having convulsions, foaming at the mouth, her mother picked her up , running for help....but the baby died in her arms. When the mother realized that the baby had died, she rushed back to see the other children, she got back to the house to find her son, Oliver 8yrs , doubled over with pain, he also started convulsing and foaming at the mouth, the mother picked him up and he also died in her arms.

Just by chance the mother of another child in the family arrived home to find the horrific scene, her daughter, Karen, also in our milk program was turning purple and started foaming at the mouth, the mother picked up , the child did not make a sound and passed away in her mother's arms.


The rest of the children started complaining of stomach pains, the ambulance rushed them to the hospital and they all had their stomachs pumped and were released last night.

These photos are of the staff at Mayan Families delivering food to the house....it is a very remote house and was quite a walk for them to get there.

In one of the very poignant moments, we realized that the shoes we had given Oliver just 15 days ago were placed underneath his coffin. He was so excited to receive these shoes when he came to Mayan Families.
The children had been at our office just 15 days ago receiving milk.
The family is in shock. We can only assume that the herbs had been sprayed with pesticide but we have no proof of this. The poor grandmother is distraught with guilt.

If you would like to help this family with food or the costs of the burials ....please go to our website to make a donation
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNowhttp://www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow