Our first stop in Santiago was at the site of the temporary
hospitalito. The small hospital that had just been renovated had been in Panabaj
and was full of mud. It took a lot of work to renovate it and they are not sure
if they can use it again because it is in the quarantined area and might be
declared a national cemetery. This is the only health care facility close for
Santitago. Near the temporary hospalitio we met with women from a Mayan Hands weaving group who lived in the area of the worst mudslides. 13 members
of that group were from Panabaj and 3 had lost their homes completely. None lost
immediate family members, but many did lose relatives and friends. Many lost
everything from their homes. Several lost their looms that are the source of
their income. On the bottom of this e-mail we put names and information that
Deborah Chandler had gathered about each woman in the group.
The sadness in their eyes was heartbreaking. One woman wept the entire time
we were there. One of the weavers shared the terror of running through the
community during the mudslide and seeing arms and legs sticking out of the mud
and she couldn’t do anything, knowing her neighbors were dead. After we
visited with the women, Clemente and Micaela from Mayan Hands provided new
cortes for the women along with shoes. This brought some smiles and hope. Funds for this came from donations to Sharing of the Dream designated for
Mayan Hands.
From there, we proceeded on to Santiago center of town. Here we saw the first
of the really destructive mudslides. This area was luckier because that slide
came in daytime and there was minimal loss of life. There were many destroyed
homes, lots of boulders and debris all over and a very bad smell. From here, we
arrived at Chonita’s to a very warm welcome. Anyone who knows Chonita knows
she is very involved in her community. She had already visited the shelters to
access losses and had invited women and children to her home to receive
clothing. After lunch Chonita had 27 of the women who had lost everything come
and receive the clothing. For the women, she had purchased a cortes, a huipil
and thread to embroider them from donations to Friends of Sharing the Dream.
Hopefully the act of personalizing their huipils will help them take their minds
off the horror they just survived. This was such a good idea, because even
though the women are in shelters they can get back to something normal like
embroidering their huipils. The children received T- shirts donated by a Sunday
school group, and shoes. In this group was a woman who delivered a baby in car
during the mudslide. Her picture is below.
We started what we thought was a very short walk. Diane, our interpreter,
(not Diane from SD) broke her sandal, forcing the five of us to pile into a
tuktuk (a golfcart-like form of transportation). We were ushered into a house
where we saw a young woman on a chair with a bandage on her head and a towel
covering the upper part of her body. We gathered in chairs around this young
woman Rosita and her sister Elena and learned that their family had been in the
middle of the mudslide in Panabaj and the two young women had lost their four
sisters, two brothers, both parents, and their home. Both of the young women had
head injuries and Rosita also had a broken finger, arm, and clavicle. They
seemed traumatized and very sad by what they had been through. The dream of
Rosita and Elena is to build a home on some land that they own. Right now we are
working with Chonita to find ways to help them realize that dream. The father of
the family who took them in was a cousin who also took in another family of
seven children and their mother who had lost her two-month-old baby in the
mudslide. The father of this second family was in the hospital and had lost his
leg. This family came to Chonita’s home later and was so pleased to get
clothing. The future for this family is up in the air. They have lost their home
and right now the government is saying that it will build new homes for these
people. The future will tell whether this promise will be kept. The magnitude of
the losses these families face is overwhelming to us. We were touched by the
generosity of the family who had taken in these other two families.
Information from Deborah about the women of the Mayan Hands Atitlan groups:
First Category - houses half buried in mud, won't know what they can do until
the authorities decide; the area is now closed off, they are all living in
shelters or very crowded houses
Maria Victoria Garcia Hernandez, age 43
married, 7* children, backstrap weaver
Josefa Chiviliu Sol, 47
widow, two children, small floor loom weaver+
many bodies were found near her
house, so she will probably not be allowed to go back
Carmen Damian Yool, 50
married, 2 children, backstrap weaver
Antonia Garcia Hernandez, 45
first husband kidnapped/died, second husband abandoned her
9 children, backstrap weaver
Carmen Damian Ixbalan, 33
married, 6 children, small floor loom weaver+
Maria Reanda, 36
married, 4 children, small floor loom weaver
Antonia Damian Ixbalan and Micaela Damian Ixbalan, 25, twins
Antonia's
husband abandoned her, she has 2 children
Micaela is single, adopted a little
girl whose mother died
both weave on small floor looms, both live with their
parents for the moment and with another sister
Concepción Ixbalan Baran, 32
married, 3 children, small foot loom weaver+
Candelaria Ramirez Rabinal, 22
married, 2 children, small floor loom+
Second Category - house okay, was not in the path of the major mudslide; some have some mud
inside, but houses are habitable
Barbara Ajuchan Damian, 43
married, 11 children, small foot loom weaver+
Concepción Esquina Quieju, 36
single, one adopted daughter, small foot loom weaver
Luisa Quieju, 22 or 23
single, lives with parents and 6 brothers and sisters, small foot loom
Catalina Tacaxoy Quieju, 30
single, lives with parents and 2 siblings, small foot loom, is having the
worst physical reaction of anyone, is a nervous wreck right now
Senovia Antonia, 19
single, lives with her widowed mother and four siblings, small foot loom
Maria Quinom Coche, 40
married, two children, small foor loom weaver
Rosaria Damian Ixbalan, 32
married, two children, small foot loom+
While their house is okay, it is empty as she is afraid to go back to it. In
all the hubbub, the house was robbed, after she took out some clothing etc.
first. They are living with a sister now.
Andrea Tzina Chichon, 25
married, two children, small foot loom+
Concepción Mecia Ramirez, 45
married, 9 children, small foot loom
Candelaria Caquix Ratzan, 49
widow, 6 children, small foot loom+
Maria Caquis Ratzan, 50
widow, 5 children, small foot loom+
Third Category - houses totally destroyed, lost everything except their lives
Micaela Ixtetala Yataz, 36
married, 7 children, backstrap loom
she had the good fortune to join the group about a month ago
Maria Ramirez Tacaxoy, 30
single, lives with her mother and one sister, small foot loom
Maria Tacaxoy Queju, 38
married, 7 children, backstrap loom
* means some children are adopted or grandchildren being raised by grandma;
adopted is from some relative who could not raise the child
+ means that husband or daughter(s) also weave, they may have multiple
looms (or did have)
