End of the year 2019 - Ortencia Family

I met Ortencia on the path to TULESI, an indigenous community 3hrs away from the closest bus stop in Grano de Oro, Turrialba, Costa Rica. She asked if I’m helping indigenous people. I didn’t want to say yes, because it can be a challenge to establish boundaries around how much I give, and in what situations. It is true that many indigenous people have misconceived the act of receiving donations; some believe that people from the city must continually provide products for them. But in the case of Ortencia, it’s different. And Dalo Tsana is committed to helping people like Ortencia in their moments of need.

Ortencia has 9 children. One of her daughters is 14 years old and already living with a male partner. Another daughter, Eliza, suffers a severely broken arm due to an accident on a horse. Her brother, Eliezer, has been in surgery four times with a problem in his right eye. Ortencia’s husband has trouble finding work, as he sustained an injury to his right arm and has very little strength in his right hand. So Ortencia must take care of the younger children, while also working in coffee plantations where the pay is very low.

There are some Costa Rican institutions that are responsible for taking care of this kind of case. In fact, people in the indigenous community rarely even talk about the government. Yet there are programs, scholarships and private groups involved in various approaches to helping indigenous families. By expanding these projects, we can make a lot of progress.

For Ortencia, as the leader of the family, it is difficult to earn enough money to feed all her family and challenging to access aid from the government. The problem faced by women like Ortencia starts with the frequency of early pregnancies in these communities. State-led educational institutions have said that this is a “cultural” trend. But we know that young women deserve different opportunities, beyond just starting a family at 14 years old. We believe that more education can change this reality.

We talked with her 16-year-old daughter, and she shared that she had not heard of condoms or other forms of contraception. She said that she wanted to finish her studies at high school, and then continue studying. But for many teenage women in this community, is difficult to create a career, as they often get pregnant at very early ages and no longer have time for studies or work.

First visit to their home

The first visit we made to his house was to understand the situation they live, with the materials they have, what type of food they carry, as well as the situation of their children. On this first visit, we were accompanied by two volunteers from Germany, who had the opportunity to meet the reality of indigenous families. They bought temporary food for the family is supported a little these days.

We met his house and we realized that they have no mattresses, they all sleep on the floor with few blankets, just to cope with the cold of the night since the house is not completely sealed either. It is normal for indigenous families, to live with few food, utensils, and comforts, however, these conditions are what allow them to live less time than an average of people with access to more health and education services; This is where Dalo Tsána wants to emphasize and find solutions to increase the life span of this population and in turn offer training to improve their quality of life.

Second visit with supplies

On this occasion we had the opportunity to bring food so that the family can sustain themselves during this time of difficulty, their two children who had accidents were in a better position and the help they grant will allow Ortencia not to feel such strong pressure to work. Conversations with the children of Ortencia and we were able to better understand the panorama they are living, we took pictures of their house and the explanations well what are the objectives of Dalo Tsána, with the desire that they do not think that we will continue the non-perishable foods, but that we are to contribute with education and health services.

Donations

We received part of a group of workers from the INS of Costa Rica, where we granted $350 in cleaning products, food, and first aid. Through this donation, it was possible to contribute to the Ortencia family at a time when it is difficult to obtain food and medical supplies for their children who are going through complicated conditions.
This type of donations is of great help when we need to support a family that is in danger, this is what we are looking for from people, institutions and private companies, to understand that government is not enough we when are talking about the well being of these families.

If you have good quality materials for home, kids supplies, food donations or some item in the following list, please don’t hesitate on contacting us