As nearly three million people in Mexico struggle with the aftermath of last week's devastating 8.1 magnitude earthquake, impatience is growing in poverty-stricken communities. Instead of waiting for federal assistance that may never arrive, residents in the country's southern Oaxaca state are organizing to assist each other in a spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance.

Among these groups is a brigade of nearly 50 migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, who are offering their unconditional support to communities in Oaxaca's poverty-blighted Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The brigade's tireless efforts have earned them the status of heroes in a country where they are usually faced with discrimination, distrust and abuse.