“Love is discovered through the practice of loving and not through words,” says the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, a phrase that serves to define the work of ‘Prepara Familia’, a Venezuelan non-governmental organization that accompanies, assists and defends the human rights of children and adolescents hospitalized with chronic pathologies, as well as their family members and caregivers.
By Walter Obregón / Correspondent lapatilla.com
Last December 7th marked 15 years since ‘Prepara Familia’ began “close accompaniment, assistance and support to hospitalized children and adolescents with chronic pathologies,” as read in its story as stated on the website: https://preparafamilia .org/.
They literally state that in 2008, a small group of volunteers arrived at the ‘José Manuel de los Ríos’ Hospital in Caracas, popularly known as ‘JM de los Ríos’, where they confirmed the lack of assistance to mothers who traveled from other regions of the country to the institution to find care for their children. “Many arrived in the capital without family support, without money and without a place to stay.”
From there, ‘Prepara Familia’s’ work began with the basics: offering clothing, phone cards so they could communicate with their families, and emotional support.
With each new visit, new needs appeared and increased and Prepara Familia included new tasks and commitments to the assistance program at the JM de los Ríos Hospital.
The road was not easy. They did not dedicate themselves to making themselves noticed with advertising to obtain fund and resources, but after three years unsolicited donations allowed them to advance and not give up in the work that throughout 2024 will continue to be essential to face the deterioration of the Venezuelan healthcare system.
Thinking ahead about 2024
Katherine Martínez, Director of Prepara Familia, spoke with lapatilla.com after declaring our interest in knowing how an organization of this type can maintain itself in the midst of a pronounced economic crisis and where people’s hope is plummeting, Because in the midst of their sufferings and anguish, people find all doors closed, all doors they ever come to knock on.
“The work of ‘Prepara Familia’ continues with a high level of need, need caused by the serious situation that the Venezuelan population continues to go through, especially with those we work with (children and adolescents with chronic pathologies), and we keep trying to find answers for the situations they are going through, to the extent of our possibilities.”
How has ‘Prepara Familia’s’ work been during 2023?
– We continue to execute a project called the Nutritional Protection Center, in which we are serving children and adolescents, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women who are at risk of malnutrition.
How many and what programs does this organization develop?
– To accomplish our work we have healthcare personnel, pediatric nutritionists, pediatric breastfeeding counselors, nutrition specialists and a legal psychosocial unit to care for those who reach out to this project. We also have a Community Social Pediatrics center, in which we serve vulnerable populations offering a multidisciplinary team (psychologists, pediatricians, musical therapists and art therapists) who provide very important support in the situations they experience.
Are any of these programs difficult to execute or develop?
– It has not been easy, but we continue to accompany and advise hospitalized children and adolescents, mothers, healthcare personnel on the issue of human rights, which every year is more demanding, more complicated, due to the complexity, due to the entire situation that is occurring. Despite everything, we are happy with the work we have been doing, which has been going on for 15 years.
How many people have you reached with these aid programs?
– Approximately 5,000 people, including children and adolescents, women and families, among all the programs we have. These are: the Nutritional Protection Center, the Community Social Pediatrics Center, which are the main activities we carry out with hospitalized children.
Are you affected by the economic crisis the country is going through?
– Of course, the economic crisis affects all civil society organizations, including us, because every day everything is more complicated to access goods and services, but what hurts us the most is the multidimensional poverty of the families of the children with chronic diseases, or the number of children at risk of malnutrition that continue to increase.
This work has become a complicated issue, but love prevails?
– That’s how it is. Children and adolescents, as well as mothers and those who care for them, need all the support we can give them. In all our years of service we have realized that this support must even help cover their basic needs and we want to accomplish this.
Some of them need help taking their children to the hospital, others cannot afford the extremely high costs of the required laboratory tests. Additionally, most are also unable to cover funeral-related costs when necessary. Therefore, they are not alone, our job is to raise funds to cover all these expenses and make strategic agreements with laboratories and funeral homes.
Has it crossed your mind to give up this work you do?
– Never. We are happy with the work we have been doing.
Purposes and virtues
Complying with everything they have set out to do is considered the biggest challenge of ‘Prepara Familia’ in 2023, but as the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti once said: “In love, as in war, it is urgent to use tactics and strategy.”
Difficulties have always existed for Prepara Familia in the race to be useful where no one has hope, especially in a country where the State is obliged to “adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the life, personal integrity and health of child patients in the area of Nephrology at the JM de los Ríos Hospital in Caracas,” as recommended by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights since 2018.
Likewise, “adopt the necessary measures to guarantee that the health and safety conditions of the Nephrology ward, where the children are located, are adequate.”
“Agree with the beneficiaries and their representatives on the measures to be implemented,” among other things that are part of the resolutions issued by the IACHR, based on the precautionary measures requested by ‘Prepara Familia’ and Community Learning Centers (Cecodap), which is also a Venezuelan organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of the rights of children and adolescents, their good treatment and peaceful coexistence.
Donate: a way to help
Donors of financial resources are a fundamental part of the work carried out by ‘Prepara Familia’, which has a permanent fundraising campaign to prevent its programs from suffering any halt that would directly affect the children who depend on this organization to improve their health and healthcare conditions.
The contributions that anyone can make to ‘Prepara Familia’ can be made through its website, under “Our causes”, where one finds: Sustainability of the Pediatric Social Program, Sustainability of the ‘Ponte Poronte’ (Nutritional Center) and Financing a Birthday Party .
The funds received will be used to develop the Social Pediatrics Program, whose purpose is to address “the causes of toxic stress in the least fortunate children in our community.”
The Prepara Familia team analyzes the living conditions of each child, the family situation, school life and personality development problems to create a plan that involves the entire family unit, and in this way improve their lives. For this reason, they require help to cover the costs of this multidisciplinary team.
Likewise, at the Ponte Poronte Nutritional Center they attack one of the most serious problems of the children that arrive as patients to the JM de los Ríos Hospital: malnutrition.
“In the long term, the effects of severe acute malnutrition on children can be devastating. If not treated properly, they can even cause death,” they explain.
This program called Ponte Poronte, has the collaboration of Prepara Familia and Mapani, and its objective is support and aid children under five years of age who present “acute malnutrition.”
This program tries to restore the children to health in a lapse of between six and eight weeks. This is the required period where through therapeutic supplements with vitamins and minerals, which do not require water or cooking, and can be consumed directly from the package the child’s nutritional condition health can be restored.
There are donors who give joy and smiles at the JM de los Ríos Hospital, because on the last Friday of each month they organize a children’s party to celebrate all the children’s birthdays. It is considered an activity of utmost importance so that children and adolescents do not lose the excitement of celebrating their birthday, despite the difficult health situation they are going through.