OB Guatemala Turns
20
Operación Bendición was incorporated in 1985 as an OBI indigenous
affiliate organization to coordinate humanitarian projects within the country.
Since then, our teams have assisted hundreds of thousands of hungry, sick and
suffering people. However, the work there is not done. Right now 75% of Guatemalan’s
live below the poverty line and continue to need help.
Launching Anti-parasite Campaign
In February 2005, Operation Blessing joined with Guatemala’s Departments
of Health and Education in launching a campaign to treat more than two million
school-age children for parasites and teach hygiene to prevent reoccurrence. OBI
also reopened ten health clinics by hiring Guatemalan nurses and providing medicine.
Now thousands of poor families have access to free health care in each of these
communities.
Trinidad and her seven children live in a small house in El Jurgahon. Their only
possessions worth mentioning are two beds. Electricity doesn’t exist. Every
day the struggling family has to make ten trips, over a kilometer each way, to
get water out of a contaminated well. Earlier this year, five of Trinidad’s
children were sick from the water.
“They were suffering from stomach pain and diarrhea. I did not know what
to do,” she said. “The medications are so expensive and one being
poor cannot manage to buy them.” She brought them to an OBI clinic, and
they received anti-parasite medicine.
“The medicine that Operation Blessing gave them did them well,” she
said. “Now my children play and I see that they are healthy and do not suffer
anymore. To Operation Blessing, I give them thanks for all of the support they
have given us, and for that I give thanks to God.”
Relieving Coughs
Last fall Operation Blessing shipped cough medicine to Guatemala. Valerio is a
43-year-old Guatemalan who had been suffering with a bronchial problem for several
weeks. He was a tailor and couldn’t afford to miss work. When the father
of five came to the OBI clinic in Chiquimulilla, he received a bottle of medicine.
Soon, Valerio was healthy again.
Creating Jobs
Fifty women living in the rural community of Cantel diligently work at a pig farm
throughout the year. Operation Blessing began this micro-enterprise project several
years ago, and in the years since, these women have helped take it to new levels
of success. Last year they bought two female pigs, reared ten piglets to a good
size, butchered them and made over 500 pounds of sausage. They sold the sausage
and processed 150 pounds of ribs, making over $100 in profit on each pig.
This money helps women like Maria tremendously. The 38-year-old wife and mother
of two is not only busy working, but she also maintains the house and helps her
husband farm their small family plot. Over the years, she has become a community
leader and learned how to read, write and do embroidery.
Drilling Wells
Operation Blessing dug a well in El Triunfo last year. About 250 people live in
this poor community. Most homes have only a shallow, hand-dug well that’s
left open so the water easily becomes contaminated, resulting in sickness and
disease. Operation Blessing teams dug a clean community well that was 70-feet
deep. They packed it with gravel, constructed a concrete pad to protect it and
installed the hand pump. Now, the residents of El Triunfo won’t have to
worry about disease-infested water anymore!
You
can break the cycle of suffering!
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