An update from Venezuela, and thank you
Dear friends,
This time I want to write to you directly, as myself, not just as La Guarimba.
When I found out about the double earthquake on June 24th, I couldn’t believe it. It felt like part of my own body had been cut off. For all the broken lives of my fellow Venezuelans, I felt grief, but also anger. Anger at a corrupt government that built buildings out of styrofoam, with no earthquake-resistant technology at all, while stealing the money that could have saved lives.
My own aunt and uncle live in Baruta. A wall of their house collapsed and they can’t go back inside, but they’re alive. And in their own small way, they’re already helping others, cooking arepas for people who have even less than they do. This is what I keep seeing across the country right now: people with almost nothing, still finding a way to help each other.
The numbers are hard to hold in your head. Over 3,300 people confirmed dead, more than 16,700 injured. Authorities are still talking about tens of thousands missing.
“A photo that made me cry, but with a strange kind of happiness. The happiness of seeing a network actually work.”
The child in that photo was pulled alive from the rubble. To be treated, he needed an infusion pump and a vital signs monitor. Machines that we managed to buy in 24 hours, thanks to the generosity of every single one of you. They’re the ones in the photo, already in use.
Small good things, put together, to do a lot of good. Today we’re finishing packing everything we’ll bring to the coastal towns.
Reaching the towns nobody else was reaching
We sent a convoy of food and medicine to Todasana, a small coastal town on the outskirts of La Guaira, including six months of epilepsy treatment for a child, and hygiene kits for two pregnant women close to giving birth. These communities depend entirely on La Guaira, and without real solutions, they’re now facing a crisis that won’t be short-term. It will last.
Getting the story out, not just the aid
Alongside the fundraising, we’ve been working to make sure Italy doesn’t look away. We got the story published in Repubblica and Vanity Fair, and told it on Chora Media, Italy’s second most listened-to podcast network. This isn’t a side project. People need to know what’s happening while it’s still happening.
If you can’t donate, there’s another way you can help: we’re looking for journalists willing to help tell this story, the greatness of the Venezuelan people and the government’s inaction.
A donation box at our own front door
We’re in the middle of our summer season at Terrenito Guarimbero. Every event is free, as always, but this year we put a donation box at the entrance, so anyone who comes can help send immediate aid.
Working alongside those already there
We’ve sent money directly to Chamos and Hogar Bambi, two NGOs already working on the ground in Venezuela. We’ve also set aside small amounts specifically for Venezuelan artists who were themselves victims of the earthquake, because the people we make festivals with are part of this too.
Ants, all of us, together
Every one of these is a small gesture, an ant carrying something far bigger than itself. We decided to be ants. All of us, together, to save what can still be saved, and to choose life.
WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW
€7,159.34
raised from 106 donors
Every euro goes straight to the people who need it, verified through trusted volunteers on the ground in Caracas, in direct contact with doctors and nurses reporting real-time needs from hospitals. We check every delivery with photos of receipts and goods handed over, because trust is the only way anything survives in Venezuela right now.
How you can help
If you haven’t donated yet, even a small amount makes a difference. And if you already have, thank you, truly. Please keep sharing this with people you know.
If you’d rather send a bank transfer, use the reference “VENEZUELA”:
LA GUARIMBA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
IBAN: IT 06 D 01030 80600 000003911003
SWIFT: PASCITM1CS1
Our festival, La Guarimba, has spent fourteen years building a bridge between Calabria and Venezuela. This year, from August 7th to 12th in Amantea, we’ll keep the donation box open throughout, alongside free music, cinema, dance and theatre events, including a workshop on Venezuelan drumming with Eileyn “La Negra” Ugueto, one of the great voices of the very coast that was hit hardest.
Guarimba means “safe place.” I believe Venezuela already is one, because of the size of its people’s heart.
Thank you for trusting us with this. Thank you for helping me help my people.
Giulio Vita
