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Hope for the Hungry in Jocotan
“Virtual Village Project”
The small boy pictured above
was brought in to a small health outpost in an
area of Guatemala that is experiencing famine due to
drought. He was in the care of his 10 year old sister as his
mother was at home, gravely ill. He has recently received a child
sponsor with OWH and is the first member of our “Virtual Village”.
The child’s name
is Elias and he is almost two years. His severe
malnutrition was due to a lack of availability of
food coupled with the fact that he, like most
children of this region, was host to worms and
parasites which limited his ability to absorb what
little nourishment he received.
Outreach for
World Hope has begun a hunger relief project
that will save lives and provide hope for the
future by way of agricultural advancements and
improved education. The child mortality rates in
the some villages of Jocotan are as high as 33%
per year. OWH is enrolling the neediest families
of these villages into our new “virtual village”
program.
They will continue living in their own
geographic villages, but will receive large
supplies of food each month, vitamins, treatment
for worms and parasites and other needed medical
care and social services. Medical personnel are
assisting us in identifying the families with
children at risk of starvation. Our agriculture
team is identifying and growing drought
tolerant and highly nutritious crops in
demonstration gardens that will help improve the
agricultural output of the region.
Our child
sponsorship program will enable children like
Elias and his sister to be re-nourished, to
attend school, and to have hope for a better
future. Please consider dramatically changing
the life of a child at risk of starvation by
becoming a child sponsor. You will be
blessed by the opportunity to communicate with
your child on a regular basis and could make the
difference between life and death for him or
her.
Elias was one of our first children enrolled in our sponsorship program. Below is a picture
of him, the same child pictured above, taken after
just three months in our program. He now
falls within normal weight expectations for his
age, is healthy, and has a full head of hair.
The children below have little hair, bloated bellies,
swollen limbs and skin disorders due to
severe protein deficiency.
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