Many of you know that hurricane Dean came ashore as a category 5 in the southern part of the state our condo is in, Quintana Roo. It hit in a sparsely populated area, something that the press pointed out happily.

It is not an un-populated area though, and the people that do live there are mostly very poor, Mayan, and live in very small villages. They are almost completely dependent on the food they grow (mainly corn, squash and beans) for food. They are not close to the single highway that runs the length of the state, they are back many miles on dirt roads or paths. They lost a lot, their houses were blown down and filled with water, their animals scattered and killed, their water supplies polluted. The worst though, and the problem that still looms over them and their children, is that their crops were destroyed. The food they were growing to eat for the next 6 months was flattened, shredded and blown away.

It's hard sometimes to imagine this when you live in a country like the US where poor people do not starve and where there are safety nets available everywhere. These people do not have any food or any clean water ... these are the bottom line basics of life. They have children who they love and want to keep healthy, they need their strength to rebuild their simple houses and clean up and re-plant their crops.

The government here is doing a lot, they are impressive in their relief efforts and the speed which they rebuild. However, most of that is channeled to the larger towns, the highways, the capitol city which was also hit. There is little that makes it down those dirt roads and into the small towns. There is also the bureaucracy of relief, the Cruz Roja (Mexican Red Cross) tries to get everywhere but as in the US they are limited in resources and people. It is worthwhile to donate to those organizations but there is also another way.

I have been extremely touched by the response of one family who are taking a direct approach and bringing food and water out to these small villages personally. They are friends of ours, Kathy, Jamie and their 4 kids live just north of Akumal in Paamul. They decided to put together packages of food bought with their own money and money that friends have donated. They pay for all of the gas and incidental expenses themselves and Kathy publishes an accounting on her web site of all money received. They drive to Cancun and buy in bulk at CostCo and then put together despensas or packages of food for a family. They drive south another 150+ miles and go back into the jungle with a local friend and deliver them to the people that need them.

This is a picture of what Kathy can provide for $5 US. In addition, they are taking eggs, water and cookies for the kids. She has pictures and the story of their trips on her blog and I want to encourage anyone reading this to go there and see what they are doing.

Hell's Half Acre

If you can give even $5 it will make a big difference, she has various ways like Paypal to receive money from the US. I can personally vouch for her honesty and the dedication she and all of her family is bringing to this. As another friend said, skip one latte from Starbucks and feed a family for a week. The Maya are hard working people who will recover, they just need a hand while they get it done.



The Thorny Heart picture was taken by Mimi in Arizona, the other two pictures are from Kathy in Quintana Roo.