Third World Countries Quiz

I'm now working with the Four of Hearts Foundation - a fundraising and service group started and run by my nephews, and their friends (a bunch of teenagers!). I'm the Director of Finance and Organization. We are focusing on Guatemala - the country where their little sister, Ellie, was adopted from. My sister made up this little information quiz - I thought I'd post it here. It's an eye-opener. Take a few minutes to read it...

Mayan poverty
The following is a little quiz to give you an idea of what your life would be like if you lived in Los Robles where we will be working (we are going there in June 2010, or in any of the Mayan villages around the Lake. One point five million people live like this in Guatemala. So few people really know what it is like to live in a third world country..so here's a little exercise in third world living..it makes me truly feel blessed..how about you???

1. Take out the furniture: leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair. You've never had a bed, remember?

2. Throw out your clothes. Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.

3. All kitchen appliances have vanished. Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful of onions, a dish of dried beans. Rescue those moldy potatoes from the garbage can: those are tonight's meal.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and the lights and everything that runs by electricity.

5. Take away my house and move the family into the tool shed.

6. By now all the other houses in the neighborhood have disappeared; instead there are shanties - for the fortunate ones.

7. Cancel all the newspapers and magazines. Throw out the books. You won't miss them - you are now illiterate. One radio is now left for the whole shantytown.

8. No more postman, fireman, government services. The two- classroom school is 3 miles away, but only 2 of your 7 children attend anyway, and they walk.

9. No hospital, no doctor. The nearest clinic is now 10 miles away with a midwife in charge. You get there by bus if you can afford the fair or bicycle, if you're lucky enough to have one.

10. Throw out your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies. You now have a cash hoard of $5.

11. Get out and start cultivating your three acres. Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops each year because your landlord wants one-third and your moneylender 10 percent.

12. Find some way for your young children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days. How about selling on the street, anything you can get ahold of from gum and candy to alchohol. But it won't be enough to keep bodies healthy - so lop off 25 to 30 years of each life.

Can you imagine? Unfortunately this a reality for so many living in Guatemala and countries around the world. Can you step up and out of the box to help be the change in the life of a child? Can you spare some change to feed a family? If so here's your chance. Click on the donate button and make a contribution so these children won't have to find work and they will still have a meal!!

Visit www.four-of-hearts.com and go to our Store/Donation page to donate!