Melissa Allemant of the International Federation in South America
It’s 4:00 a.m. and Pablo Castro, a 28-year-old volunteer, drives one of the Peruvian Red Cross’ (PRC) trucks to Huancasaya, an isolated community that lies almost 4,000 meters above sea level in the area of Puno.
“I had my Red Cross uniform on, a thick coat, gloves and under all of that, thermal clothing … and I still was freezing. When we arrived in Huancasaya, we could see the children outside with sandals and light t-shirts. Some of them looked like they were used to the cold, but others were really unwell,” says Pablo.
It’s not uncommon for high altitude regions of Peru , like Puno, to see cold snaps but winter temperatures have never been this low, falling between minus 15°C and minus 25°C.
The most recent figures indicate that 67 children under the age of five have died from respiratory illnesses in the past three months as a result of this extreme weather. Pablo knows this. That’s why he and the Peruvian Red Cross team are worried to see so many people without adequate clothing or health care in Puno.
Fellow volunteer and trained psychologist, Nelly Aguilar, says one problem is a lack of medicine. “When we ask the families if they have taken their children to the health centre, most of them said ‘yes’, but the doctors only gave them medicine for fever, because they didn’t have anything else.”
According to the National Civil Defence Institute (INDECI), more than 800,000 people have been affected by the cold wave. A month ago, the Peruvian government declared an elevated state of emergency in 13 departments for a period of 60 days.
Pablo and Nelly belong to the Peruvian Red Cross team that visited the three worst-affected departments to evaluate which families are most vulnerable. They found that more than 10,000 extremely impoverished people in Puno, Cusco and Ayacucho were in need of support. International aid has started arriving but getting help to such remote and elevated areas is not easy.
There are many difficulties in accessing rural communities, like Huancasaya, due to poor road conditions, the high altitude (between 4,000 and 5,000 metres above sea level), and because demonstrators have blocked some access routes.
“As a National Society this is a hard lesson to learn but it makes our capacities for response stronger. The volunteers are enthusiastic and the action plan is working. We have identified the most vulnerable families in the poorest places to provide them with humanitarian aid,” says Pabel Angeles, National Relief Coordinator for the Peruvian Red Cross.
As in so many cases, it’s the poorest of the poor, who are bearing the brunt of the extreme weather. Impoverished communities have been overwhelmed, according to Pablo, who met many people living without electricity, safe drinking water, communications or access to proper health care and education.
For him, poverty has a face which he won’t forget. “What shocked me the most was one young woman in particular. She was a mother of three children. When we asked her what her family eats every day, she turned around and took out a small piece of charqui, or dried alpaca meat, no bigger than the palm of my hand. That small charqui had to last until the end of this year for five people! They only use it to give a little flavour to the soup but not for nutrition… I felt frustrated,” Pablo says.
The Peruvian Red Cross is currently focusing its efforts on the upcoming distribution of humanitarian aid for these communities, which will take place during the first half of August. Warm clothing and blankets will be provided to the families living in these difficult conditions.
A water storage system will be also delivered, which should make life easier for the women and children, who must rise before dawn and face freezing temperatures in order to collect the water they need to start their daily chores. Also, more than 4,000 children will be given a pair of waterproof boots.
“At the end, I know we are not changing the structural problems of our country but I think being a volunteer is not about that,” says Pablo. “Because of our help, these families will know they are not forgotten and that is worth all the effort”.