MEXICO – Extreme poverty has long marked many of the rural villages throughout the Chiapas region in southern Mexico. Families have struggled to meet their most basic needs—like access to healthcare, finding water to drink, and earning a livable income. They had little hope until you came along and gave them a brighter future in so many ways. Your love has provided holistic care that is transforming their lives and communities.
Making a Difference Through Mobile Medical Clinics
Guadalupe worried about the health of her unborn baby. Health care in her area was extremely limited, and the nearest hospital was nearly two hours away. She longed for reassurance that her baby was developing properly, but she was struggling to find access to an ultrasound.
Many of the residents in this area are poor farmers, totally dependent on nature to support their families. Even if they could leave their land to get needed medical care, they often couldn’t afford it.
You sent a mobile medical clinic with doctors, dentists, pediatricians, and community health volunteers to treat more than 100 people in Guadelupe’s area. When she heard the strong beating heart and watched her little one on the ultrasound machine we had brought, Guadalupe could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Her baby was doing well. She said, “Knowing that we have good health helps us feel at ease.” And your love didn’t stop there. It continued to work in the lives of families across the region.
Surgeries That Are Truly Life-Changing
For months, Mili (age 12) was often doubled over in severe pain from gallstones. She missed school and couldn’t even care for her cat. The surgery Mili needed cost thousands of dollars—more than her mother, as a single parent, could ever afford.
Another child, 6-year-old Lia, couldn’t run, play, or even cry because it caused her hernia to swell. She dreamed of being free from pain so she could roller skate, but her mother was not able to cover the cost of an operation.
Surgery for these young girls was not obtainable in Chiapas until the love of strangers like you intervened. Our compassionate Operation Blessing family provided a surgery marathon so that Mili and Lia, along with 13 other patients, could get the care they needed to live better lives. And their parents didn’t have to bear the crippling cost.
In addition to providing life-changing medical care, you also freed entire families from the burden of poverty in other ways.
The Miracle of Clean Water in Chiapas
People living in many communities throughout Chiapas had no running water or bathrooms. Women and children spent hours navigating dangerous paths to streams or old wells. And the water they brought home was contaminated with bacteria. This, combined with poor sanitation, meant disease spread easily and children often got sick.
Thanks to our generous partners, hope finally arrived in several of these small, isolated communities. Residents received rainwater harvesting systems and hygiene stations with toilets, showers, and faucets. They learned about waterborne diseases, water conservation, and proper hygiene techniques to help them safeguard their health for years to come.
A mother named Juana and her five children (ages 2 to 17) no longer have to walk an hour every day to fetch water. Your generous care changed their lives. “My water tank looks beautiful,” Juana told us. “My children will no longer have to go with the donkey for water. Now, we will have it right here at home.”
Empowering Women Through Microenterprise
You also helped women in several communities launch their own businesses and earn additional income to support their families.
Eight women in Nachig improved their sewing skills and learned to create products like bags and garments. You provided them with the materials they needed—sewing machines, thread, scissors, needles, and irons—to start and maintain a thriving business.
Determined women in San Isidro make the long journey each week to the market in Berriozábal with high-quality eggs from chickens they are raising—thanks to the training friends like you provided. For participants like Karen and Alejandra, the training opened up doors of opportunity they’d never had before. “We feel very grateful for the support that Operation Blessing provides us, so we have more opportunities to sell and learn.”
