From: Jane Mintz [mailto:jane@mayatraditions.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 11:36 PM
To: Lynn, Terra Experience
Subject: Guatemala Disaster Relief

 Sorry Lynn haven't had time to read your email ...thanks so much for your concern!! I'm exhausted....here's news...I'll recheck your website tomorrow..

***here is an updated letter (from my previous one ) with more concrete exact donation details.Our fiscal sponsor will not take a percentage and they will ask us to save and administer the funds according to the community needs and and give them a subsequent report...Dana from Pachamama World asks what people can do who don't have money to donate..we took out of our letter  the suggestion of collecting clothing and blankets etc. as we have no transport  and blankets are to heavy to ship...perhaps baby clothes or light things...but this may be an option for things if we find a way to ship..I guess calling organizations and government representatives for relief help for Guatemala would be  very helpful work....other suggestions?? don't let them forget about Guatemala!!! Love Jane


Dear Friends,

 
I am writing to you from my San Francisco home, where I recently arrived after four months work in Guatemala. I am dry and safe.  I feel very sad today, as I have been all week.  Last week a hurricane and flood hit Central America.  It is a terrible disaster.  The Guatemalan highlands have been hardest hit, which includes Lake Atitlan and all surrounding areas, where our office and most of our Maya women producer groups are located.

Where our office is outside of Panajachel, Solola, the river flash flooded and washed away some 100 homes, mostly poor families. Our young Dora, who manages the office for Maya Traditions and her sister Lorena, each had their one infant child swept away and drowned in the flood of the river. They lost everything, their home and all their belongings, but fortunately Dora was able to save her 4 year old. I can only imagine the pain Dora is feeling after loosing her baby. I have no way to contact her. 

Two communities, which are part of Santiago Atitlan, a large indigenous village across the lake, were buried in mudslides after intense rains. After some 80 bodies were uncovered, the villages have been declared mass graves. Those who survived are in shock and grief and are in makeshift shelters. All major roads into the lake region are damaged or completely gone, the people dont have enough food and drinking water.  Small villages in the highlands are cut off entirely from any kind of supplies.
Miraculously the two Mayan Hands weaving groups escaped to shelters except for one family who perished.

All of my friends and coworkers are devastated and struggling to help other people. Jennifer who manages operations in the Guatemala office is currently trying to get 10 families that are related to our staff out of the shelters and is providing them with clothing, water and food.  All around are people in need, sleeping on floors of churches and municipal buildings, crowding into other peoples small homes. We have given out blankets and foam mattresses, gas, water, and food. There is concern about disease since the only water available is unsanitary, and the sewage treatment plant has been washed away into the lake. Who knows when our workers will be able to return from their mountain villages?  Most importantly, after a week of silence, we have now heard from them and know that they are all alive and well.      

You can see pictures and get more information at  http://www.panajachel.net/ and http://www.pananight.com. 

This is how you can help:

• Make a tax deductible donation. We have set up an account through our fiscal sponsor Global Exchange.  This fund will support immediate relief work as well as long-term support to rebuild homes and lives. These donations need to be payable to Global Exchange/Guatemala Relief.  You can send it to Global Exchange, 2017 Mission #303, San Francisco, CA 94110(or to our office listed below and we will track it through Global Exchange)
   
• Send small donations payable to Jane Mintz at Maya Traditions, 3922 Mission, San Francisco, CA 94112 (not tax deductible). Every day I am releasing funds from Maya Traditions bank account in Guatemala for water, shelter, and food for our neighbors who have lost everything. Be assured that any funds will go to that purpose.
   
• Donate online to the new hospitalito in Santiago Atitlan at http://www.puebloapueblo.org The recently opened hospital which took so much community effort is mostly destroyed, but the extremely dedicated staff is trying to recover the technical equipment and uncover the building under six feet of mud , meanwhile working day and night to help people in shelters.