I cannot even begin to describe what I am experiencing here. In so many ways the people here are poor beyond anything that you could ever imagine, I am staying in a house with no electricity, no running water, three children with no toys except for a torn book, 10 cards, and 37 beads. The mother of the house is my same age, can you believe it? Actually she{s three months younger with a 9 year old, an 8 year old, and a four year old. The entire family, actually the entire town, is infected with parasites. Can you imagine? the poor kids stomachs always hurt but they always have a smile on their faces and plenty of hugs to give. In that way, they are richer than any American family I have ever met. They have nothing, but also want nothing, children who are actually happy with what they have, even if their stomachs hurt all the time. They are happy eating two meals of beans and tortillas, but the mother eats only a bowl of beans a day and malnourishment among mothers is one of the biggest challenges here. So a few days ago i volunteered to feed children with a program called hearts in motion that focuses their attention on feeding malnourished children and house a few babies who are so sick it{s scary. the babies are so sweet and they just smile and want you to pick them up, but some of them are so malnourished that thye cannot walk. the other volunteer told me that babies are stillborn and die every day because of lack of folic acid and vitamins for their mothers. People can{t read to fill perscriptions and cannot afford to buy them so they just collect the doctor´s notes. the men won{t come to the clinic because it{s not macho to do so, so they jsut deal with broken bones, infections, and parasites in silent agony. their daily workout is walking up this mountain to their one room houses with mud kitchens. in one way it is poverty beyond anything we could imagine, but in another way it is a society full of love, family, and happiness, so wealthy that us, as americans, can´t take it all in.
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