Roberto Marquez, a 60-year-old Mexican painter, travelled 800 kilometres from Dallas, US, to Agujita, Mexico, carrying the canvas on which he portrayed the plight of the ten miners trapped for a week in a coal mine. "It has to be a message of support," he says. Angelica Solano, a 58-year-old housewife living nearby, shows her support in a different way. She came bearing trays of food for relatives and rescuers. "Every time there's a disaster or someone needs our support, we have always done it as a family," Solano says. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES