In March, MADRE sent one of our Helping Hands shipments to Guatemala that included toys, sewing supplies, clothing, medical equipment and over-the-counter medication, toiletries and school supplies. These shipments are made possible entirely through donations from you, our supporters. Aid – sending things to people who need them – should be incredibly easy; when you have too much of something, and someone else has too little, you should simply be able to give it them. Unfortunately, international aid is often a complicated and time-consuming process, and getting supplies from our generous donors to our partners and sister organizations often requires a great deal of effort from our dedicated staff. So why do we devote time to this particular project, when so much work requires our attention?

Oh, well, that’s easy:

What wouldn't you do for this face?!

When the supplies arrived, our Program Director Natalia (future MADRE!) got a lovely email from Ana Ceto, the head of MUIXIL, one of our sister organizations in Guatemala, letting us know how happy they were to receive them:

“Hey pretty woman, future mother.

Helping Hands, helping students!

I’m attaching photos of people that received the presents that I
received from MADRE.  Thanks a lot for everything.  I’m letting you
know that the people are so happy.  Inform your team that the work you
all accomplished is enormous.

The young man that received the medical equipment was happy; he is getting his degree in medicine and he hasn’t had the money to buy this equipment.  His family ran out of money because one of his brothers got sick with leukemia and died.  Because of this, they ran out of money and days before, his mother had asked me if I had friends that could help her son because he was really interested  in studying, but he didn’t have money to buy his equipment.

At least on the trip that I made all was worth it; I brought him something useful.

Well, I wish you the best and take really good care of yourself.

A hug, see you soon”

Thank you to our staff and supporters for all you do for this program, so we can keep receiving pictures like this.

They match!