Aren't those starving babies in their filthy but colorful ethnic dress just too precious for words? When anyone touts social gains brought by eco-tourism, refer to this counter-example.
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Creel, Mexico   Still a toddler, Marcelino Moreno already looks exhausted by life, his body hanging from his bones as if he were an old man. Marcelino will be 2 in March, yet at 11 pounds, he weighs as little as a 3-month-old baby. He is lethargic, barely moving his thin limbs while lying in a hospital bed. His skin is loose and wrinkled, his belly bloated. For nine years, a drought in northern Mexico has been slowly starving the reclusive Tarahumara tribe in the Many people fear the coming year could be even worse. In October, farmers ended their most devastating growing season in nearly a decade, harvesting a third of the corn usually produced in the past, years in which the number of reported child deaths averaged three dozen annually. But experts think the real number is much higher and expect it to rise even more. From January on it's going to be difficult," said the Rev. Juanito Cordero, who ministers in remote villages. "The rains arrived too late, and the soil is chalky and hard. There was very little land that could be worked."

The poor soil rarely provides enough food even in good years. When the harvest runs out, the Tarahumara depend on wild plants, hunting and travel to seasonal jobs in the cities and farms of northern Mexico. Around the village of Pamachi, an area with a population of 600, an average of five children die each month from malnutrition and related illnesses such as diarrhea and stomach infections, according to the Maria Dolorosa Missionary, a Roman Catholic order that started working with the communities two years ago. Some estimate the drought has killed more than 3,000 tribe members, mostly children younger than 5. Marcelino was one of 31 children hospitalized at the Santa Teresita Clinic run by Vincentine nuns in the mountain town of

Marcelino was released weeks later after gaining four pounds. "Oh, my Lord, children are dying," said the clinic's director, Genoveva Candido Reyes, letting out a long sigh after receiving a call that another boy sent to a larger hospital had died. "Children aren't supposed to die." Churches are buying grain and coordinating aid efforts to prepare for the coming months. But not all those in need will be reached in this vast maze of rugged, sun-scorched canyons that are home to 60,000 Tarahumaras, some of whom live in caves.

President Vicente Fox has promised to continue federal aid programs, but many people worry that the help might be disrupted during his initial weeks in office as the first opposition party candidate to be president in 71 years. Those who work in the region think that countless children are dying quietly in remote villages. Individualists and distrustful of government, many Tarahumaras don't bother to record births or deaths. Even if they do want help, many live too far to make it to a hospital.
Wearing sandals with soles carved from used tires, Marcelino's father, Candelario, had to hike three hours from his village carrying his emaciated boy. Once they got to a road, they caught a bus for the remaining two-hour ride to the clinic. Sitting on a curb while his son was in the hospital, Moreno said he wasn't able to salvage anything from this year's crop. "The weeds won this year," said the thin man wearing a "World Champions" baseball cap. "I'm going to try to find work wherever I can, because there is nothing here." He, his wife and four children have been surviving on pinole, a type of porridge made from last season's ground corn and water. Moreno, 40, said he will travel, along with hundreds of mostly tribal farmers like him, to the Pacific coastal state of Sinaloa to work in the hot pepper and tomato fields.

Two years ago, the Maria Dolorosa Missionary launched a health program in six communities after discovering that more than 80 percent of toddlers suffered from severe malnutrition. The group encourages farmers to plant more vegetables instead of just corn and beans. "We never planned on dedicating ourselves to being health workers, but we arrived here and saw the reality," said Sister Mayra Lopez. "We're seeing an average of one child die per week."
The nun visits remote villages once a month to weigh the babies and distribute food and medicine. "One little girl died while we were treating her," she said. "She was 4 years old and weighed 7 kilos (15 pounds). She was pure skin and bones." In January, a group of Mexican evangelical doctors and the non-governmental Pro Indigenous Association used grants from U.S. foundations to build a hospital in the town of Samachique, a two-hour drive from Creel. Dozens of other Mexican and international groups have sent supplies and donations to the region.

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