With support from Memorial-Spring Branch Rotary and others, The Rotary e-Club of Houston, through its Hope For Venezuelan Refugees pilot project is helping alleviate hunger and improve malnutrition among vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and ‘caminantes’ (walkers) in Cúcuta and Pamplona through the donation of 20 tons of Rise Against Hunger (RAH) meals.

 

Today, Venezuela is a failed state experiencing its worst economic crisis. Venezuelans are struggling to survive in a country with escalating criminal and political violence, and a monthly minimum salary of US $6.70 in an economy suffering from annual inflation approaching 2 million percent. Venezuelans have lost everything - jobs, healthcare, their family, and many have lost their homes. These imploding economic and social collapse has led Venezuelans to leave their crippled country in a massive exodus creating in one of the worst refugee crisis in Latin American history.

 

Consequently, more than one million Venezuelans have crossed the border from Venezuela to Colombia. However, the city of Cúcuta and the Metropolitan Area were not prepared to receive this massive migration of people. Many refugees have transited into other Colombian cities or walked to other countries like Ecuador and Peru. Others, refer to as pendulum citizens, enter and leave on the same day. Some people join other family members overcrowding homes, thus increasing these family’s vulnerability and social problems. The rest, which is the vast majority, have increased the high levels of unemployment and informal jobs in the city.

 

Although Colombians have welcomed their Venezuelan neighbors, signs of resentment among jobless local residents are growing. In response to this humanitarian crisis, two concerned Venezuelan Rotarians in Houston, human freedom activist and former Miss Venezuela Cristal Montañéz, and WaSRAG Ambassador Dr. Isis Mejías, created the Hope For Venezuelan Refugees pilot project to help alleviate hunger and improve malnutrition among vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and ‘caminantes’ (walkers) in Cúcuta and Pamplona.

 

They visited the region, created the project proposal, and put together a coalition of allied organizations to develop the log The first phase was to send a 40-foot container with 20 tons, 1320 boxes of RAH meals fortified rice-soybean meal with dehydrated vegetables enriched with 18 minerals and vitamins. The container departed from the Port of Houston on December 21, 2018, to the Port of Cartagena. The container arrived at the Food Bank of the Pastoral Social of the Diocese of Cúcuta on January 17, 2019. From this location, the RAH meals boxes are distributed weekly to (10) food distribution centers in Cúcuta and four (4) shelters of the Humanitarian Network (Red Humanitaria) on the Cúcuta-Pamplona route already serving hot-meals to the Venezuelan refugees. This humanitarian aid pilot project aims to increase the capacity of these food distribution centers by providing 190,080 food rations during eight (8) weeks with the possibility of extending the project to a second phase.

 

Hope For Venezuelan Refugee pilot project is a partnership between the Rotary e-Club of Houston, Rise Against Hunger, Food Bank of the Pastoral Social of the Diocese of Cúcuta, and the Rotary Club of Cúcuta. These organizations joined efforts to implement, facilitate and manage the pilot project.

 

According to Cristal Montañéz Baylor, International Service Committee Rotary e-Club of Houston “The fact remains that food is the most fundamental priority that needs to be addressed in this humanitarian crisis. Local faith organizations and the World Food Program (WFP) have taken the lead in response to this humanitarian crisis. Our donation of 20 tons of Rise Against Hunger meals is helping improve the stage of malnutrition of more than 5,400 Venezuelan refugees per day in 14 food distribution centers located in Cúcuta and Pamplona. Our project helps alleviate hunger and promotes peace.”

 

Additionally, “Rise Against Hunger, Memorial-Spring Branch Rotary, the Rotary e-Club of Houston, and other Rotary Clubs contributed the necessary funds for the acquisition of 20 tons of complementary foods produced locally. These complementary foods are improving the nutritional value and adding diversity of flavor and seasonings to the RAH meals, stimulating the local economy and helping diminish the xenophobia toward the Venezuelan migrant,” said Isis Mejías, Director International Service Committee Rotary e-Club of Houston.

 

Thanks to the generous contribution of the participating organizations, the Hope For Venezuelan Refugees pilot project is able to provide an additional 1,700 additional meals per day in the form of breakfast and dinner in the four (4) shelters in the Cúcuta-Pamplona route.