Our August donation was a special one for us as Rachel’s family and a friend were able to fly down to Nicaragua to help lay a floor for a young family who live in the small, rural community of El Valle. The Palacios family have lived in homes with dirt floors their entire lives, and while donating a cement floor may not seem like much when there are so many other practical needs around, it can greatly improve the quality of living for a family- especially a family like the Palacios who have two young children in their home. We have witnessed first hand the health risks that living with dirt floors can pose for young children and knew that this could be a significant change in the quality of life for this family as their two year old boy was constantly battling sicknesses related to living in a home without proper flooring.
Apart from the fact that a cement floor allows for more comfortable living, it also significantly reduces the health risks caused by living with a dirt floor. Children who live in homes with dirt floors are more susceptible to sicknesses like parasites, anemia, and diarrhea and are more likely to have cognitive delays because they are constantly sick. In Mexico, a UC Berkeley and World Bank study showed that replacing a dirt floor with a cement floor reduced incidence of diarrhea by 49% and parasitic infections by 78%- that’s huge! Yet 45% families in Nicaragua still live in homes with dirt floors, and installing a cement floor is financially out of reach for them. That means 45% of families in Nicaragua live daily in a home that poses a risk to their own health and the health of their children.
As mamas, we can not imagine what this must be like and we are so thankful that we were able to make a difference in the life of at least one of these families with your help, and we hope to do so for many more!
Mr. Palacios taking the first steps across his new cement floor.
We forced some of the hard workers to pause for a picture.
Thank you all again for your support- it really means the world to us and to these families!
xX, Allison & Rachel
