Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Guatemala.

With recent months bringing an onslaught of tropical storms and landslides, the Guatemalan people have suffered the loss of loved ones, including many rescue workers. In particular, residents of the hard-hit Department of Izabal are still recovering from floods that hit in late August when the Motagua River burst its banks.

(In Spanish)
Victim, widow (F): We have suffered because the river ran us out; whatever we could, we took it out and the rest, we couldn’t.
Correspondent in Guatemala (F): We're in front of the Village of Mojanales of the Puerto Barrios District, here in Guatemala. And as we can see behind me we have some ruins of the school that was there, which has been swept away by the Motagua River with its huge swelling. The residents are worried but we wish that very soon they’ll have their new locations.

Victim, widow (F): Yes, we are in a bitter disaster… waiting, as they say, for whatever people bring us, because we cannot make a living. I am a widow... I just owe my trust in you and thank you very much.

VOICE: Soon after the storm, Supreme Master Ching Hai donated US$15,000 while sending her heartfelt condolences and prayers as she asked that our nearby Association members please go if possible to help the most afflicted. This amount could purchase US$134,000 in supplies if obtained in the United States, based on Guatemala’s cost of living. With our Association members contributing US$440 toward travel and related expenses, the relief team from Costa Rica travelled to Guatemala’s Department of Izabal where seven rural communities had not yet received help due to inaccessibility because of collapsed bridges.

Correspondent (F): We are in the Cinchao area, on my right, the Motagua River, as we can see, they have to be transported by boat, due to the destruction of the bridge. In the background we can see part of the Motagua bridge that was destroyed because of the rising Motagua River.

VOICE: The country’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction agency along with the local governor’s office, the Guatemalan Red Cross and others assisted our Association’s relief team in distributing family food packages that contained large amounts of flour, rice, beans, vegetable oil, a plant-based protein powder, sugar, and salt, along with SOS flyers informing of the vegan solution to global warming and related disasters.

Byron Solares – Governor of Izabal Department, Guatemala (M): We feel very happy for the help that Master Ching Hai is giving us, because we really have many problems due to heavy rains that we had in the whole nation.

Widow victim (F): We give many thanks to the Master!

Community President of the Village of Xiux, Morales Izabal (M): Good evening, Master Ching Hai, I am pleased with the help you have given to my neighbors in this community and may God always bless you and prosper you even more.

Correspondent (F): Reporting for Supreme Master Television from Guatemala.

VOICE: With thanks to all helping governments and agencies in Guatemala, we also are grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her loving support as well as for the efforts of our Association’s relief team. May the storm-afflicted residents soon regain the comforting regularity of their daily lives as we pray that weather extremities like these subside through our more considerate care of the ecosphere.