I try to raise enough money to go down once a year. I bring warm infant clothing because it is very cold in the highlands of Chiapas, and many babies die in unheated wooden shacks where the cold wind blows through the cracks. Infants and young children also die of respiratory illness connected with the unventilated wood fires that burn on the floors of these wooden huts in the winter.

The infant mortality rate in Chiapas is 54.7 deaths per 1000 births, twice the overall rate for Mexico. The highest rates of mortality typically are associated with remote, rural, and largely indigenous communities, who live in mountainous areas where winter weather is severe, and where roads are often non-existent or impassable.

Chiapas is a remote world, where terrible things can and do happen. Indigenous people are under constant threat and oppression by paramilitaries and a mestizo elite who aim to keep them powerless and landless.

My project is a small, slowly growing, one-woman effort. I try to bring what I can to impoverished mothers who live in tiny indigenous villages in the mountains of Chiapas and Oaxaca. If you would like to donate just a little bit to help fill my suitcases with needed items, I would be happy to send you a craft item from Chiapas in return.

Muchas gracias a todos.

PLEASE SEE MY PICS FOR ITEMS YOU CAN DONATE

Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / White eagles