The remains of the outer wall of Julissa’s piece of land.
Trujillo flooded 6 times
As some of you will have read in the news, Peru has been hit with the worst floods in 20 years (read more here if you missed it). Due to exceptional warming of the Pacific Ocean (called El Nino Costero) heavy rains fell in the normally dry desert of Northern Peru, including Huanchaco where the FairMail office is based. Dry riverbeds turned into raging rivers causing mood slides that flooded the entire city of Trujillo (see video here). Causing damage to thousands of homes and destroying the homes of families who built their homes (too) close to the normally dry river beds.
Severe damage to homes of FairMail teenagers
The homes of two of the FairMail teenagers were also severely affected. The home of Angelica mother totally collapsed as the mud brick walls melted away by the rain water that poured onto their low lying plot of land. Luckily they managed to move in to her grandmother’s home next door in time.
The FairMail Peru team in action helping to fill up the land of Angelica’s collapsed house.
Julissa mud brick home barely survived and is in risk of collapsing if more rain falls. The entire wall protecting the land near the garbage belt where they keep their pigs and ducks did collapse. Giving them severe stress and worries as burglar’s can now easily come in and steal the animals they depend on to make a living. Reconstructing the long wall will cost them a lot of money they don’t have.
Alternatives for photography classes
Due to the partial flooding of Huanchaco (see here) and its access roads the FairMail office was forced to suspend classes for 2 weeks until the rains stopped and roads opened up again. During that time we did meet with the teenagers to try and provide some relief for those hit by the flooding. We spent one Saturday class in the logistics centre distributing water, food and clothes to the different surrounding towns in the area. Also most of the teenagers helped Angelica out with wheelbarrows and spades to fill up her plot with 14 cubic meters of sand and stones. This makes us very proud of our team!
The FairMail Peru team helping out with the distribution of drinking water to the flood victims.
Reconstruction
The rains have now stopped, but a lot of work still has to be done and many people will need to rebuild their homes. As a social enterprise FairMail is not doing any fundraising but we are in contact with NGO’s and individuals who provide direct help. Please get in contact with us if you would like to receive any suggestions to make a donation and help these people out.