We will and can help hungry and sick children and the elderly in Venezuela!
Since the end of February, I have been on a mission for Zdenac in Venezuela, on the island of Margarita.
A state of emergency has been declared. Schools are closed, shops are empty, many of them are closed. Every day one hears of some grocery store being robbed. Small shops do not allow anyone to enter. They serve customers through bars. Everything is paid with credit cards because there is no cash. Lately, however, even the credit cards are of no use because there is no electricity and the phone lines do not work.
The streets that a year ago were full of people and cars are now empty and creepy. The main promenade of Santiago Marinho with its rich offer of boutiques and stands has completely shut down. Only a few cars pass the main road Cuatro de Mayo which goes through the centre of the city of Porlamar that has 200,000 inhabitants. Some traffic lights are also off.
It’s sad to see children exhausted, half-naked and barefoot or wearing some torn flip-flops sitting by the side of the road. They are malnourished, merely bone and skin. Their inflamed eyes call for help.
Everyday mothers and grandmothers come to the door of Zdenac, asking for some groceries so they can cook a meal at home. Unfortunately, we often have to let them go empty-handed because we don’t have enough food to give them to carry home. We help with groceries to those in critical condition.
Such as a family whose grandmother (50) has been lying in bed for weeks due to starvation, which has caused her to become severely depressed. Bone and skin, the living dead. Tingles permeate me as I look at her. She lives with four grandchildren and a son-in-law. They have nothing to eat, not even water. They depend on what they receive from Zdenac. Her daughter left home. She abandoned her children, mother and husband.
It’s hard to watch all of this knowing if we don’t give them food, they will die.
It would be easy to meet their needs if they were the only ones like that. This family is a picture of present-day Venezuela. It is sad to watch small children with twisted yellow skin and a big belly from parasites and hunger. The consequence of their malnutrition is a loss of calcium, which is why they do not develop.
There is no food, water, and medicine. Margarita is an island. Only one boat a day brings fuel, food, and other necessities. That is a supply for 500,000 inhabitants. Prices are twice as high as on land.
1 kg of red onion costs 13 HRK.
1 kg of wheat flour is 12 HRK.
1 kg of rice is 12 HRK.
1 l of oil costs 25 HRK.
The monthly salary is 30 HRK. People buy one onion, two potatoes, one carrot. Those are the better standing ones who have money for vegetables.
When they get lucky, for a little amount of money the poorest can buy 3 kg of rice, 2 kg of pasta, 2 kg of lentils once a month. They can only dream of eating fruits.
Due to starvation and monotonous food, people suffer from anaemia, tuberculosis, malaria, diphtheria, cholera, mental illness, high blood pressure, thyroid, stomach ulcers, frequent cancers… There are no medicines and, if you have money, you can't buy them. Hospitals do not accept patients because they lack basic means: gloves, gauze, alcohol, or medication. There are no surgeries in operating rooms because they are full of bacteria and do not have the means to sterilize and disinfect.
Delinquency is gaining momentum. Burglaries and murders instil fear in the bones. There are almost no pedestrians on the streets for fear of being attacked.
In five different settlements, Zdenac shares more than 300 meals every day. In addition, we help with groceries on a weekly basis to families that are large or have sick members. The needs are great, and it is very difficult to decide which of the two hungry people is hungrier because we do not have food for both of them.
Our money fund is coming to an end. We have a reserve for another three weeks. I invite all people of goodwill to join Zdenac with their financial contribution to buy food, water and medicine so that we can continue to share a daily meal. So we don’t have to refuse anyone who comes to us to ask for a pound of rice and medicine for their sick child.
Daily meal for children up to 7 years costs 3.5 HRK and in that drink, they get everything a child needs to meet the basic needs for the day.
The daily meal for older children and adults costs 3 HRK.
Together we can provide food, water and medicine to these and hundreds of other children for as long as this deadly, humanitarian crisis in Venezuela lasts.
We can organize concerts, sports matches, TV shows and other actions to feed the enthusiasm of solidarity and charity and restore joy and hope to children, the sick, the elderly and families in distress.
You can pay your contribution to Zdenac's bank account marked "for food, water and medicine for the children of Venezuela".
PAYMENT DATA
RECIPIENT: Zdenac, I.G. Kovačića 39, 10370 Dugo Selo
IBAN: HR9023400091110984714
MODEL: HR00
CALL NUMBER: 30
SWIFT (for payments from abroad): PBZGHR2X
I encourage you to contribute to the number of meals that you will determine according to your financial abilities.
To make your help last longer, the best way is to create a standing order in the bank solely for this purpose.
In return, you receive prayers of intercession, which children and all who receive food, pray for you, their benefactors from Croatia.
Sr. Ljilja Lončar
Missionary of Mercy