| Agatha arrasó a ONG que apoya a personas con discapacidad - PressReader El fenómeno meteorológico destruyó 90 por ciento de las instalaciones de Piña Palmera y frenó la terapia de más de 500 menores y adultos ... |
Agatha arrasó a ONG que apoya a personas con discapacidad
El fenómeno meteorológico destruyó 90 por ciento de las instalaciones de Piña Palmera y frenó la terapia de más de 500 menores y adultos provenientes de comunidades indígenas
Agatha devastated NGO that supports people with disabilities
The meteorological phenomenon destroyed 90 percent of the Piña Palmera facilities and stopped the therapy of more than 500 minors and adults from indigenous communities.
Millennium Tamaulipas17 Jun 2022GASPAR VELA
GASPAR CANDLE
The halls and rooms with thatched roofs were left unusable.
Hurricane Agatha wiped out 90 percent of the facilities of Piña Palmera, a civil organization located in Zipolite, Oaxaca, which provides care to more than 500 people with disabilities from indigenous communities in the state.
Volunteers and collaborators of the center carry out cleaning and rubble work every day, after halls and rooms were left under the mud and completely uninhabitable. In addition, they do not have electricity or drinking water.
Flavia Anau, general coordinator of Piña Palmera, lamented that, in five hours, this meteorological phenomenon brought down the work of nearly four decades of the organization, which carries out rehabilitation and inclusion work in towns on the coast and the southern highlands of Oaxaca. .
“He destroyed 38 years of work in a few moments. It threw everything away, it knocked down houses, it took what was inside, all the work supplies, speaking of the simplest ones, such as mattresses, beds, fans, refrigerators, all the pedagogical area that we also had; took everything, everything, everything.
“90 percent of our facilities were damaged. We live in a hot place, the roofs are made of palm, most of the roofs were damaged, the house was completely destroyed and obviously the structures of the houses were full of mud, so we have to remove it, ”she said.
Paulina Montañez, a collaborator of the organization, narrated that the workshops and centers for minors and adults with disabilities were unusable. Books, toys and therapy material for children with this condition were also lost.
“This is the central work of Piña, we have every Wednesday an activity called early intervention, where boys and girls come, and it is a process of learning through play. Sign language is taught, dance… they learn through play.
“All our work material is lost; In the toy library we had books and games, and 80 percent or even a little more is lost. The water rose about a meter and a half, so the books, the toys and the paintings, everything was lost”, she lamented.
Flavia Anau explained that at this time Piña Palmera cannot operate, so the process of rehabilitation and inclusion of hundreds of Oaxacans with disabilities and their families was interrupted.
"We are now at a forced march trying to clean up, because we cannot continue with the activities, nor the ones we had here, nor go to the communities, since our transportation was also flooded," Anau said.
"We need hands"
Antonio Martínez Pacheco, who uses a wheelchair, arrived at Piña Palmera eight years ago without speaking or looking after himself. After receiving therapies and rehabilitation at the center, today he is an independent person and is in charge of the store, where they sell products made by volunteers and collaborators.
Toño acknowledged that he feels sad seeing Piña Palmera practically destroyed by Agatha's passage. “A lot of things were lost,” he declared.
On the day of the hurricane's impact, on May 30, Antonio and three other people with physical disabilities were trapped in this center. Their rescue was made possible by volunteers taking them out in a tub.
Flavia Anau, who estimated that Piña Palmera will be rehabilitated in approximately six months, recognized that there is a lack of personnel to carry out the cleaning and removal tasks, for which she requested the collaboration of the Army and the Navy. “We need a lot of hands,” she assured.
They also require financial help, since the repair costs amount to 4 million pesos. Those interested can donate to the account 09400502588, in the name of CAI Piña Palmera A.C. of Scotiabank Inverlat 044.
They estimate that the reconstruction of the property will take at least six months and cost at least 4 million pesos.
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