Dear Friends at St Anns,
Many thanks for your recent gift. We are most grateful for your continued generosity which helps us to continue projects like the improved stoves and water purifiers.
Earlier this month we placed 22 stoves in two communities, one on the coast and the other in the altiplano which is the cold weather part of the diocese. I attach photos of the arrival of the stoves in these two communities. We have orders for 70 water purifiers also which should be arriving in the communities in the next few days.
I do have orders pending for 30 more stoves for coastal communities and another 90 for a community in the altiplano. Families are determined to invest in an improved stove now that they have seen other families with stoves and heard about the savings in firewood. An additional benefit is not having smoke in the kitchen where the women are preparing meals so they are not breathing in the smoke nor are the babies on their backs. The families realize that the cost that they pay is only half of what the stove costs and that friends like all of you are helping to pay the other half of the cost.
I also just purchased medicine for my patients with Parkinson´s disease. I was able to buy enough for a couple of months for the patients that I have under treatment. They are happy that the medicine can control their tremors so that they can feed themselves and walk without assistance. If they can’t come to the clinic for the medicine they always send a family member so that they are never without the medicine. Some of them live hours away from the clinic and have to take several buses in order to get here. They are all grateful for the medicines and the control of their tremors.
Many thanks for your generosity and many blessings for all of you especially at Thanksgiving.
Gratefully,
Sr. Mary Lou Daoust
Sister Mary Lou Daoust is currently serving in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, which includes Malacatan