by our reporter
May, 2011
On June 1, the woman called “our angel” by many indigenous people begins her fourth year of helping the native people of Panama.
Maribel Bass came from Costa Rica with her husband, Joe, three years ago. She soon won the hearts of the indigenous people of the Bocas del Toro archipelago, where thousands face a daily struggle just to survive.
(Below) Maribel visits one of the many families she helps. Two adults and six children live on this platform over a salt-water marsh. The mother is sick and the children are malnourished. She makes sure they get food and safe water. Maribel’s work touches lives throughout the chain of islands and beyond – to the far-off Peninsula Valiente, and in remote mountain villages.
“I just do what I can, where I can, when I can,” she said. For this modest but remarkable woman, that’s a lot.
FIRST AID HELP
“Many have cuts and wounds that are already badly infected. I do what I can, but if someone needs professional medical care we take them to a hospital on the mainland.”
(Below) A worried mother with her sick child comes for help. Infants and preschool children are especially vulnerable to diseases from bad water. Almost all indigenous children have worms from polluted water, with diarrhea, stomach troubles and anemia a constant threat to their health.
In the ambulance boat — injured children and machete cuts in the day. Snake-bite victims at night.
Joe and Maribel use their all-purpose boat as an ambulance boat in emergencies. Schools call them to rush injured or sick children to the hospital. Farm workers often suffer severe machete cuts. Maribel sometimes drives the boat in the day.
Joe handles night-time runs for snake-bite victims. He said, “when they bring someone in a canoe at night, we know it’s a snake-bite victim. It’s then a matter of life-and-death. Minutes count. It’s a race against time.”
BRINGING PROFESSIONAL VOLUNTEERS
Maribel multiplies her own impact by organizing the work of visiting volunteer dental, eye-care and medical professionals.
The volunteers provide dental, eye and medical care to hundreds of people too remote for normal access to such help.
(Below) This visiting dental team helped several hundred remote island people in need of dental care.
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DESERVING STUDENTS
Maribel serves as a vital link for help to deserving students. (Below) Maribel with Anita, who was abandoned by an uncle, but is now cared for and in school. Maribel works with BESO, a scholarship charity.
Nine — and out.
Education and scholarships end at the 9th grade for most indigenous children. Maribel finds sponsors for the most deserving students so they can continue their education in high school and college.
John (below) — is in high school on the mainland. Maribel found a sponsor and accommodation for John near the school.
College for Edwin (below) seen here with his proud mother. A brilliant young man, Edwin is one of the few indigenous students to make it to college. Maribel arranged for his scholarship. She has a list of qualified indigenous young people who want to continue their education. She needs more sponsors for these deserving students
FRIENDSHIP UNLIMITED
Maribel is never too busy to be a friend. Sometimes, it’s just listening. Other times it’s helping a child with homework. Often, (second photo below) it’s just offering friendship and a little snack to indigenous kids who paddle by her house in their canoes. Joe and Maribel live over the water between two large villages. The canoe route passes right in front of their house. The welcome mat is always out.
“MY MAIN EFFORT IS SAFE WATER FOR THE PEOPLE. EVERYTHING STARTS WITH THAT.”
Maribel and Joe have installed almost seventy rain-catchment tanks supplying safe disease-free water for 22,0000 indigenous villagers. The tanks refill in the frequent tropical rainfalls. Click here to see where the tanks are installed.
Operation Safe Drinking Water, where the gift of life is given again and again — every time it rains
But it’s not all work. Once a month Joe and Maribel head for the mainland for a well-deserved break and to check on the scholarship kids. Maribel visits her family in Costa Rica, then they’re back to the islands and hard at work.
Help make Maribel’s 4th year of work the best ever.
$50 will provide over-the-counter medicines and bandages for first-aid.
$75 will provide schoolbooks for deserving scholarship students.
$100 will help keep the ambulance boat operating.
$975 will install your own rain catchment tank at a school or
indigenous village, providing safe, disease-free water for years to come.
Click here to help
For information on sponsoring a deserving student, please
email Maribel at: info@operationsafedrinkingwater.org
We’re a 501 (c) (3) charity.
No one receives a salary or compensation.
Thank you, dear friends, for your kind words. I know we all love this area
and the wonderful people who live here. It is aour pleasure to serve them with
safe drinking water — Joe and Maribel Bass