Rara
Muchie, Mexico -- Surrounded by rural Mexican landscape, a truck and its trailer
slowly moved through the summer's night. Marty Via's 7-year-old daughter slept
on a mattress made with filled rice casserole bags. The journey from Waycross,
Georgia had been long. Knowing he hauled life giving food for starving Tarahumara
Indians kept the founder of Brighter Days, a Operation Blessing partnering organization,
driving toward his destination.
Six weeks earlier Marty had seen the disastrous effects of drought in the Tarahumara
Indians' fields. It had not rained for three months! Moved with compassion Marty
started praying. They would suffer starvation through the next planting season
unless someone helped, he knew he was the one. So he called Operation Blessing
with a situation report.
Daylight broke. The last two-and-a-half hours slowly passed as the truck climbed
a trail of rugged terrain for twenty miles. Arriving at an elevation of 8,000
feet, the travelers finally reached Rara Muchie. Within a couple of hours of
arriving, a big kettle of food was bubbling. Not used to seeing the "white
man", the very curious but cautious Tarahumara Indians began appearing.
Seventy-five stomachs were filled that night.
Consisting of approximately 50,000 persons, this tribe maintains its own culture
and occupies one-fourth of Mexico's mountainous Chihuahua state. Poor by world
standards, the majority farm corn, beans and zucchini as well as raise cattle
and goats. Others make crafts for passing tourists. More than ninety percent
have gathered in small towns. Families live in mud brick homes with often no
electricity or running water.
When Marty returned the rains had finally started again, the fields were planted,
and corn was growing. In the meantime some households had already run out of
food and neighbors where sharing sparse resources. The load Marty brought would
feed the village until the late fall harvest. Three hundred grateful families
received the much needed food and blankets.
In addition to helping the Tarahumara Indians this past summer, Marty distributes
food through his network of thirty-five shelters, rehabilitation centers and
food pantries to an average of 20,000 people every month! With the assistance
of Operation Blessing's Hunger Strike Force and local private donors, he cares
for hurting individuals living in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and
on various Indian Reservations. Over the last year-and-a-half, support has also
gone to an Assistance Center in Macon, Georgia and a homeless outreach in the
Florida Keys.
Let Operation Blessing extend your arm of compassion to those in need.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.
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