Be a Super Friend for our children in Venezuela!

The pandemic in Venezuela is far from over, has fueled deeper inequality,  and has exacerbated scarcities of medical supplies and medicines. Oxygen concentrators are offered by private vendors for $5,000 and oxygen tanks for $500, only affordable by very few. The extreme poor — 79.3% of the nation, according to a survey by Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas — live in squalor, often in violent slums, lack adequate food, and work miracles to live with $2.5 (or less!) monthly basic salary. Many have lost weight from what some call “the Maduro diet.” In the meantime, people continue leaving the country or dying, including newborns & children.

In this report, we remind you the current situation in Venezuela, aggravated by the pandemic, and inform you of our first efforts, accomplishments and challenges. We thank you for standing by our side, in our mission to support those in underprivileged conditions, those suffering the most.

COMPLEX HUMANITARIAN CRISIS in Venezuela (as defined by UN) remains the same and/or even worse:

• Covid-19 crisis continues: limited availability of reliable testing, lack of government transparency regarding cases & deaths, persecution of medical professionals and journalists who report on the pandemic, no concrete vaccination plan or availability for the population. The very first few vaccines that arrived were for the government and health care workers are now conditioned to receive them if part of the regime.
• Health system is still in collapse, with resurgence of vaccine-preventable and infectious diseases, severe shortages of medicines and basic supplies such as gloves, face masks, alcohol gel, and soap, interruptions of basic utilities, emigration of healthcare workers leading to a decline in operational capacity, etc.
• Malnourishment still alarming: 8% of children under five are acutely malnourished and 30% chronically malnourished, or stunted. In the most vulnerable neighborhoods, 14.4% of children under five are malnourished.
• Food insecurity is at least 1 out of 3: Many have difficulties feeding older children, in part due to the decline or abandonment of school meal programs (90% of schools do not have the Student Feeding Program from the government) and poor basic salaries ($2.5 x month) that can keep up with the inflation. 
• Student lag is expected deeper, due to the pandemic and a poor remote education (no access to internet or poor one if available, no educational platform or plan, etc). In-person classes remain suspended since March 2020. School attendance (both in-person and virtual) reached its lowest rate due to the humanitarian emergency and Covid-19 restrictions.

FRIENDS' first 5 months:

• 8 shipments to Venezuela, representing 271 cubic feet of aid (diapers, baby formulas, nutritional supplements, medical supplies, etc) and including 3 air ones with prescribed medicines, oxygen concentrators, and a sterilizer. 
• +3,000 newborns and children (and their parents) helped at pediatric hospital supported by Friends.
• +280 health-care workers at pediatric hospital, daily supported with PPE, medical supplies & equipment.
• 1,810 school-age children and their teachers remain at school (remote version) thanks to Alimentando Futuros' emergency plan: mobile data plan for teachers (to send assignments, etc), nutritional meals for those parent and/or teachers that have to attend meetings or teach remoty from school, and kit with schools supplies for children.
• New Leveling (Pilot) Program for 54 children having poor academic performance and 9 supervising teachers working together, in-person, at Luis María Olaso school, to assess level of student lag and impact, impact of the leveling program, and next steps to come. 
• First In-Kind Donation Drive during Mother's Day, to collect diapers, formula, nutritional supplements and dry milk. Not a major event yet but encouraging and to motivate our supporters to be active again.
• New Partnerships: Vitamins Angels to fight micronutrients deficiency (and its consequences) during pregnancy, starting with +100 women in a control group (starting June); Orphan Grain Train and Heart to Heart International also defining the type of humanitarian aid in the weeks to come. Also, Blessings International, that will allow us to access to medicines and medical supplies at a very low fraction of market value, thus, maximizing our donors' funds.

CHALLENGES

• Grants: Great need for funding. $50K grant not materialized yet compared to previous years when received by March the latest. Also, 2 foundations supporting our nutritional meal programs at schools are having trouble raising funds and the impact will be felt when students resume in-person education.
• Major In-Person Drives still pending and missing: Organized or supported by schools and corporations that in the past brought great deal of in-kind donations. Also, a major one with Univision that has a great capacity to convene and that in the past resulted in +$20K in in-kind donations.
• Corporate's in-kind donations at minimum: Low inventories, excess, or room for donations. More controlled levels of inventory since pandemic leading to less items to donate until today.

Links:

• Friends' 2021 News - First efforts & accomplishments
• Venezuela - Today's News - Washington Post
• Venezuela raises minimum wage in fourth year of hyperinflation