We at Healing Venezuela continue to work on our programmes and below you will see a summary of what we did during the first quarter of this year.
FOOD PROGRAMME
We continued with our food programme for low-income families in Caracas and in Guaraunos, a village in Sucre state. During Q1, we have supported 730 people, of which 200 are children at risk of malnutrition. On a quarterly basis, our volunteers take anthropometric measurements to track the children’s health and take corrective measurements if needed. In the communities where we operate, cases of severe malnutrition are less than 2%, while at a national level the percentage is 12%. This difference shows the positive impact of our programmes.
JUNIOR DOCTORS
Because junior doctors play a crucial role in state hospitals, we have started 2022 with the same number of scholarships for junior doctors. During Q1 we donated $20 a month to each of 135 doctors, which makes a significant difference considering that the basic salary of a junior doctor is $5 per month.
INFRASTRUCTURE
We continued maintaining the three water-treatment plants we installed in hospital kitchens. We have also financed work to improve the water quality and distribution in other sections of the Hospital Materno Infantil de Caricuao: surgery, intensive care, and maternity ward.
MENTAL WELLBEING
Not surprisingly, it became clear that Venezuelans in the UK need help to deal with the emotional consequences of COVID and, more recently, Ukraine. We have not spent any money on these activities, but we have organised psychologists from Psicoconsultanos to talk about this topic. In addition, during Q1 we held business coaching sessions for our entrepreneurs of BuyVenezuelan, plus meditation sessions every other week, and free psychotherapy sessions. These activities were led and performed by volunteers.
AWARENESS
Since last year, we have been working with the Office of International Migration of the United Nations (IOM-UN) and other Venezuelan NGOs to come up with better ways to work and collaborate with other humanitarian diaspora groups.
HOW WE DID IT
As the COVID restrictions started to loosen up, we have had several face-to-face fundraising events, including a very successful BuyVenezuelan Pop-up. We have been humbled by the amazing support we have received during such a difficult quarter: full-page ads in the METRO newspaper, legacy donations, contributions from foundations and companies. Thanks to all this, we have started the year well placed to face the challenges ahead. Inflation has hit Venezuela twice as hard as other countries and we are planning to increase the support we offer to our beneficiaries. We can’t do any of this without the support of our very generous donors. To you all:MUCHAS GRACIAS!
