Guatemalans digging out from under the mudslides that ruined their homes on June 1 feel the world has forgotten them, says an Alberta man now living in the village of San Antonio Palopa.
Located on the edge of a 1,500-metre-deep lake formed inside an extinct volcano, the village in which Thomas Zieffle and his family have made their home was cut off from the rest of the world after Tropical Storm Agatha saturated the mountainsides, creating a series of mudslides throughout the region.
Zieffle and other expatriates living in San Antonio, including Americans Joe Piazza and Michael Butler, have created a website to help raise awareness of the village peoples’ plight and solicit donations to help them rebuild their lives.
They are asking for money and goods to help rebuild the village’s water wells and treatment system, purchase food and other necessities and buy weaving looms for artisans who are eager to get back to work so they can raise money on their own.
Butler and his wife, Rosario, took in 20 people whose homes were destroyed and are still sheltering 11 of them in their two-room house, Zieffle said in a message to the Advocate on Tuesday.
“It was interesting to see that the person with the least did the most, for the longest time,” said Zieffle.
Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom and various churches and aid agencies have visited the village but have not provided any help so far, he said.
The only aid to date has come from foreign donors who have contributed just under $10,000 to a bank account set up to accept donations. Those donations have been used to develop an emergency water supply. Future donations will go toward purchase of looms, which are being set up in rooms donated by a local hotelier, said Zieffle.
People in San Antonio and neighbouring communities normally receive nothing from the outside world and therefore expect nothing, he said.
“These people are truly a hearty and wonderful people,” he said. “They work hard and depend on others for precious little.”
Please visit sanantonioreliefe.yolasite.com to learn more.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com