Help Amazonian People

Covid-19 is hitting communities in the Amazon particularly hard and the people there have little to no access to health care even in large population centres. The small, remote communities in our network are even less equipped to deal with the health and supply challenges they face as their people become sick.

We are organizing the purchase and delivery of emergency supplies including: food, masks, soap and medicine and the provision basic healthcare by local nurses.  Unlike the big aid & development organizations that operate in the Amazon, we do not have a bureaucracy soaking up the donations. All of us working on this fundraising and logistics effort are unpaid experts. Aside from the small fees charged to us by the payment processors (Stripe / International Wire Transfer), 100% of your donations will go directly to the purchases of supplies and payment to local nurses. Costs are very low in the Peruvian Amazon, meaning that each dollar you donate, has 5-15 times as much purchasing power as it does in North America and Europe, so truly every Dollar, Euro and Pound counts. For example, rehydration salts are approximately 30 cents each and a nurse's monthly wage is $300 USD. 

Logistics

Our logistics organizers Natalia and Sandra operate out of Tarapoto, Peru - gateway to the Amazon. Supplies are both bought locally as well as trucked from Lima and then sent primarily through small boat or road links to the remote communities in our network. We have connections throughout the Amazon to expand our support as needed and possible through donations. Through these relationships as well as our colleagues and medical professional connections, we are uniquely set-up to help these remote communities on a shoe-string budget that receive little or no support from the central government due to their remoteness, logistics challenges and limited resources available in Peru. 

Experience

Through previous fundraising and logistics efforts of Natalia Gonzales, medical doctors in Lima and Mauro Taricuarima, a community nurse, as well as a truck driver and a river boat operator, the first operation successfully delivered much needed food, medicine and other needed supplies to the Nuevo Porvenir indigenous community in the Urarina river region of Loreto, Peru.

All the organizers have prior experience working in capacity building in partnership with Amazonian indigenous and mestizo communities. 

Organizers 

Natalia Gonzales, Owner of Social Enterprise Jane Artisans (partnered with artisans in 28 indigenous communities throughout the Amazon), Tarapoto, Peru

Jane Artisans (www.facebook.com/janeartisans)

Mark Spencer, Owner of Arbor Mundi Natural Products and Founder of Bosqueros Peru (Reforestation and Non-Timber Forest Products NGO), Vancouver, Canada

Bosqueros Peru (www.bosqueros.org)

Arbor Mundi Natural Products (www.arbormundi.org)

Sandra Héléna Le Houerou, Small business owner and Interpreter, Tarapoto, Peru   

Urgency

We are running this campaign for 1 week to start, in order to quickly respond to this urgent situation and are meanwhile preparing vacant buildings to act as clinics, sourcing available nurses and supplies to be prepared as soon as we transfer the funds. We will likely be extending this effort in order to continue past this 1 week period in order to expand and lengthen our reach. 

Platform Note

Please note that this platform (Causevox) does not charge fees for this campaign, however, they default a tip of 15%!  To avoid this, on the donation page, please select "Other Amount" and enter a reasonable number such as 0, 2% or 5% at your discretion.