Our Work with the Indians

On our last trip we again met Ramon, an Indian guide who we’d made friends with two years ago on one of Project HELP’s first ventures into the Sierra Madre mountains. Ramon was dressed with a colorful breechcloth, gagora, and bright headband.

It's estimated that 50,000 Rarámuri Indians live high up in caves and cliff hovels. An eight year draught has made life more difficult for the Rarámuri. When food supplies are depleted, the Rarámuri will mix a couple of tablespoons of Pinole (toasted corn flour) with water and that’s the meal for the day. Skin diseases are frequent due to the malnutrition. Medical supplies are scarce at the few clinics in the area but even then, the Rarámuri has little or no money, so many times they will walk as much as five hours to get to a free clinic.

The one night we were there the temperature dropped below freezing. Thankfully we’d gathered some firewood to fire up the old chimney and we all warmed up with a cup of hot coffee. However for the Rarámuri in their mountain caves, it’s the start of a grim hard winter. Many of the children do not have adequate clothes to keep warm, and blankets are a scare item. Our Project HELP team brought a ton of warm weather clothes and blankets which we delivered to the Cusarare Rarámuri community.

Goals to help the Rarámuri:

1. Initiate an agricultural aid program to assure good corn crops; this program would require finding donors to help with 3,000 meters of 2 or 3 inch black rubber pipe to help irrigate the higher drought areas where it’s been difficult to get water for crops.

2. Improve the quality of the medical facilities now available to the Indians by acquiring new equipment, basic medicines and proper equipment for the dental department.

3. We’re also looking to find a donor for a transportation vehicle to offer free transport to and from the rural mountain roads to clinics and other areas where the Raramuri now have to walk hours to get to.