REPORT FOR DELIVERY OF SUPPLIES/RATIONS

Santiago Atitlán:

On Monday, October 17th, we delivered supplies/rations to the families who were affected by the hurricanes in Santiago Atitlan and San Marcos La Laguna.

On Sunday, October 16th, we packed up all the products to give to each family according to their needs. With the help of Mirna and the Otzin family, we packed up 26 backs of supplies.

In order to travel to Santiago Atitlan we had to take the long route along the coast, since the route to the west was still blocked. That meant that we did not arrive until 10:30am (leaving Chimaltenango at 5:30am) so we were unable to have time to go to San Marcos L.L.

The priority was to help the familias in Santiago Atitlan, since there are families that have nothing and that are starting from zero.

We began with a meeting with the families, giving thanks to God for the opportunity to meet and to give us strength to face this situation. As well, we shared a minute of silence to remember all of the victims and ESPECIALLY for the family of the artisans where they lost 8 of their 10 family members, and sadly one of the deaths was Gloria Maria Quincain Damian who was a MayaWorks scholarship student and who was in 5 th grade. Also their parents wove stoles.

Marco, Marcela, Marcela’s sister, Marcela’s husband, my father Flavio, my mother, Delia, my mother-in-law, Pablito, my new baby, and I all went to distribute the supplies.

Don Diego welcomed us and also we had time for Marcela and Marco to present/share some words on behalf of all of the MayaWorks artisans, and I also spoke as a collective voice for MayaWorks.

The picture of seeing the victims, the families, crushed your heart to see them but at the same time they were hopeful in our ability to help them. But nothing was more difficult for me than when the meeting ended and I said that the meeting is over and you can now leave and I saw that there were families who did not leave even though they had their supplies but then I reacted and said, “but where will you go if you lost your homes” and they said they would return again to the shelters where they are staying (temporary accommodations), so we went with them shared some bread and spoke a little, we even laughed a little but it is a very hard/difficult situation.

Friends when you read this report, and maybe it is more than a report, it is to show you all how serious it is to be left homeless… All of us go to meetings, to parties, to funerals, but at the end of the day we return home with our families, but they can not. There are families that can tell you that they do not even have a chair to their name.

Alter the meeting I can assure you that the families were left with some hope and also to know that the government is promising a roof over their heads.

Families who received supplies and who were interviewed:

Notes re: Quicain sisters:

**** The sister’s Quicain Damian: who are now orphans, were sadly not able to be interviewed since they can not move much due to their injuries and we were unable to get to where they were. Don Diego says that recuperation will take between 3 and 4 months. During this time they will be unable to work and they do not have an income to support themselves. Also they will need medication for their recovery.

Their current needs are:

• Money to purchase medicine and clothing

Their needs for when they leave the hospital:

• clothes, beds, ponchos, kitchen utensils

The families that have received the supplies, send their thanks for what they have been given and what MayaWorks is helping with.

We gave one quintal of corn to each family, but their were more families than we anticipated, so we still have to give 4 quintals of corn to these families along with charcoal and beans.

The costs for the first phase are the following:

Q 10,000 corn and supplies

Q 350 transportation of delivering corn and supplies to Santiago Atitlan and San Marcos

Q 1,400 transportation from Comalapa to Santiago Atitlán

TOTAL: Q 11,750 $ 1,566.67

I would like to personally thank each and every person who has made or is making donations for this cause.

I know that the families are thanking you with all of their Heart for the help you are providing and what you can give to help them begin their new lives.

Many Thanks.

Written by: Mirian Otzín

October 18, 2005