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Now let's head to another village. It's just thirty minutes away but really it is a
world away in terms of the quality of life for the families that live there.
Plan is not operating in this village and no children here are sponsored.
Tragically this community is experiencing a growing crisis.
The soil here is the same as the sponsored village, but food productivity
is far less.
Plus those who must work as day farm laborers can't find jobs.
This is causing children and their families to fall into the clutches of
extreme poverty and malnourishment.
With Plan representative Sylvia Nole, I met Santos Mina, a struggling forty
two-year-old father who recently lost his job working on a local farm.
He is the face of unemployment in this area.
To feed his wife and three children
they must now rely on his family's meager plot of land.
Are there any bananas that are growing? Is there any?
I don't see any bananas. I only spotted one bunch of bananas riddled with pests
They looked like they wouldn't even make it to harvest, compared to Wilfredo's
thriving grove,
it was heartbreaking to see the shocking contrast. So what are you growing here?
At first glance his sweet potato crop looked healthy but weeds were choking
the life out of it. Oh it's so sad.
How often are you able to
water your crops.
Only once, every 8 days.
Because this region is suffering from a long devastating drought, access to water
is limited and very expensive.
This adds to Santos' crop failure and the suffering of his family.
Have you ever had anybody
help you
teach you, how to
have a better crop. No.
The difference is dramatic.
A little bit of education and he could probably turn this into a valuable piece of land.
Santos has lost his job and his crops are failing. He desperately wants to provide
for his family but now
doesn't know how that's possible.
I then met Santos' wife, Rosa and their three children.
There i met six-year-old Jarisa, three year old Anarelie
and sixteen-year-old Zayada.
How are the girls?
My two youngest suffer from intestinal and stomach problems because of
the water.
No clean water is available?
I boil it,
but we still get sick. Is there anybody who she can go to, a health
professional that she can go and get some advice on
helping the kids and getting clean water? No.
If Plan were in this village, Rosa wouldn't have to worry about her
children having access to medical care. Plan would also ensure there was
proper sanitation and
access to clean
safe water in the village.
Rosa showed me her humble cooking area. I could see that the holes in
the wall provided little protection from the region's snakes and poisonous spiders.
So this all originally started out,
it started out like this and as they get more money, they add... ah i see.
The last time we could afford to add any mud to finish the walls was
six years ago
when we did that part.
They have no money and no savings, a few hungry poultry and one sickly pig.
If times are tough you will sell a chicken, or a duck or a hen.
Yes, we have to.
Everyone in this family does something to help especially, six-year-old Jarisa
who fetches firewood
sweeps and helps her mother in the kitchen as best she can. And the oldest
daughter Zayada wants to do even more.
So telll me Zayada, your dreams you're a sixteen-year-old girl going to school,
what do you want to be when you grow up?
I would like to continue to study,
to be a beautician and then
an accountant,
because i would like to support my mother and father
and little sisters.
Later on i got to spend some time getting to know Jarisa better.
One of my favorite things to do on my trips with Plan.
Jarisa shares with me her one wish for her family
Is there enough food
to feed the girls everyday those three meals a day?
Because we don't have any money, we have problems feeding our children the food they need. I'm
very concerned for my daughter's future.
No mother should have to cry these tears of anguish,
no father should have to struggle so hard to provide the basics for his
family
and no children
should have to live day in and day out with a
future
so uncertain.
You've seen two villages.
You've met the children and their families Plan is working with. You've seen
their smiling faces and most of all their potential. You've also met jarisa
whose family struggles every day without the basics of life
but Jarisa and children like her don't need a bandaid solution, they need
a plan, the same plan that transformed a village just thirty
minutes away. Founded over seventy years ago Plan works with some of the poorest
communities of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Supported by your sponsorship, Plan strikes at the root causes of poverty
and delivers innovative and effective programs to ensure lasting change. I've
seen the schools
i've seen the health care facilities. I've seen the smiling faces. I've seen other
resources that Plan is providing
for all those communities
and definitely its physically responsible.
There are so many children whose lives you could change right now.
Just imagine what it would mean to them to hear you say
I agree.
No child should have to live in poverty.
With one simple phone call and you can be part of making sure that no child is
denied the right to nutritious food, clean safe water, education and vital
medical care. As a parent when you go to these countries you see that these parents
feel everything I do,
have the desire that I do to offer food, shelter, love and care and can't.
Your sponsorship partnered with plans expertise
can help children like Jarisa, their families and their whole
communities take charge of their lives and become self-sufficient.
But it can't happen without your support.
Will you help?
Please. Call right now.