OUR INDIGENOUS NEIGHBORS TO THE EAST

Poverty, Malnutrition, and Kidney Disease

A little over an hour from Lakeside’s popular retirement havens, indigenous families struggle to survive. Children can be seen playing and laughing just like children anywhere in the world. However, despite the children’s cheerful laughter, severe poverty, malnutrition and kidney disease are pervasive.

Rough roads and dilapidated dwellings characterize the communities in and around San Pedro Itzicán in the municipality of Poncitlán. Extended families live in small, crowded homes. Cooking is usually done over wood-burning stoves inside often poorly ventilated structures. Water from Lake Chapala is used for bathing, washing clothes/dishes, waste disposal and even cooking. Meanwhile, pesticides and industrial waste leach into the Lerma River that feeds Lake Chapala.

The families living along this part of Lake Chapala are descendants of the Coca indigenous group that settled here centuries ago. The current families face difficulties in all areas of their lives. Years ago, the Cocas subsisted by fishing and farming. Fish are no longer plentiful in the lake, and only limited areas are now available for farming. Local employment is scarce. Some individuals travel to Chapala, Ocotlán, or Guadalajara in order to work. To save on bus fare, some stay in those areas during the week, then return home to their families on weekends.

Traveling away from home to work disrupts family life and impacts children’s education – particularly girls’ education. If both parents work, and if a grandmother is not available to help, the eldest child usually stays home from school to care for younger siblings. This results in inadequate education and contributes to the community’s already high illiteracy rate. Parents who have very little schooling themselves don’t always stress the importance of education or encourage their children to stay in school. A lack of skills as basic as literacy, coupled with few employment opportunities, leads to poverty and poor nutrition. And without clean water, good nutrition and the means to pay for medical care, families are more susceptible to serious illness.

Kidney disease is the dreaded yet all too common diagnosis among these families. Although traditional causes include diabetes and hypertension, these preconditions are mostly absent among the indigenous residents. The disease here is considered chronic kidney disease of nontraditional causes. Nontraditional causes include a combination of factors including poverty, malnutrition, poor living conditions, sometimes hazardous work, other unhealthy lifestyle factors, plus the likelihood of a genetic component.

Children as young as two years old have been diagnosed with kidney disease or a precursor to the illness. Some children and adults require hemodialysis two or three times a week and must make the trip by bus to Chapala or Guadalajara for treatments. To make the situation even worse, kidney problems frequently affect more than one family member.

In recent years, researchers have studied the disproportionately high incidence of chronic kidney disease in marginalized communities around the world where living and working conditions are considered precarious. The cluster of small towns and villages where indigenous families live along Lake Chapala in the municipality of Poncitlán is considered one of the hotspots for chronic kidney disease of nontraditional causes.

A family in the small village of Agua Caliente in the municipality of Poncitlán has been plagued with kidney disease. The mother, her two teenage sons, plus her brother and his daughter all suffer from chronic kidney disease. Other families in the municipality of Poncitlán are similarly affected.

Occasionally a parent who has young children is diagnosed with kidney disease and unfortunately kidney patients here often die at around age 30. The loss of a parent is devastating for children. And it creates serious hardship for the surviving spouse in raising children and trying to work to support them. It’s essential to help extend the lives of these young parents with kidney disease (even if only for a few more years) so their children will have both parents for as long as possible.

Lakeside’s volunteer group Poco a Poco San Pedro Itzicán has been instrumental in helping to improve the lives of families in ways that will also help the next generation. In the spring of 2024, phase 1 of the Poco a Poco Community Center was completed in San Pedro Itzicán. The Center includes a kitchen and spacious covered area for meals and a variety of activities. A water storage system was installed, plus a septic system and bathrooms. Nearing completion, a medical and dental clinic in the Center will provide first aid and basic diagnoses/treatments. Plans are also underway to convert to solar electricity when funds are available.

In addition to the Center’s amenities, Poco a Poco offers a variety of projects to benefit the lives of the families it serves. Healthy lunches are prepared five days a week for 200+ children – and over 35 garrafónes of water are needed weekly for the lunches. Financial assistance is provided for paying school fees. Onsite educational activities are offered including reading, drawing and crafts. Educational sessions are also given for children and adults who have different abilities and special needs. Training sessions are offered to teach skills like baking, hairdressing, and jewelry-making that can lead to more income opportunities. A communal teaching garden for growing fruit and vegetables was established (with help from Instituto Corazón de la Tierra), so families can grow food.

Each Poco a Poco project is very important on its own, and it’s the combination of these projects that helps to uplift the families’ lives. The most expensive project is providing food assistance to vulnerable children; the second is helping families who have high health costs due to chronic illness.

Poco a Poco’s efforts give hope to families for better lives, and hope for their children’s futures. In addition to kidney disease, poverty, and malnutrition, the families in and around San Pedro Itzicán face additional challenges that can’t be described fully in this article. Literacy, education and other health/lifestyle concerns are among issues being discussed for future projects.

As new projects are developed, Poco a Poco continues to rely on the efforts and generosity of Lakeside residents. Ongoing donations are critical to continuing current activities and implementing new projects. And new volunteers (including Spanish speakers) are needed in a variety of capacities to help improve the lives of these vulnerable families.

For more information:

pocoapocosanpedro@gmail.com

www.pocoapocosanpedro.com

Shannon Ford graduated from the University of Washington’s Creative Writing Program, and held administrative, patient liaison, community education and clinic management positions in UW’s Surgery, Neurosurgery, and Psychology departments before retiring.