In the recent months we have done a project behind the scenes. I shouldn’t have kept this from you for so long and I’m sorry about that. This is for the ones who get harmed the most, our children. I met Randy over a year ago, he was a refugee and felt a duty to help. When I left, he left too
Instead of staying on the run for the brutal humanitarian crisis in his country, Randy decided to return, back to his old neighborhood in the North of Caracas. But let’s go back to the beginning of last year when I met him.
The Colombian border
During the time we spent at the Colombian border we started a food line to help the Venezuelan refugees. At one point we gave out over a thousand meals a day. We also started helping individuals and families one-on-one. All of this was funded with your help. All the people we helped on the ground were refugees and so were the people who worked with me.
Randy worked with me at these food lines. He also was one of my key contributors during the one-on-one help. I got to know him as a reliable person who was focused on making peopleās lives better.
Venezuelaās humanitarian crisis
Venezuela is suffering from one of the worst economic and humanitarian crisis of this time over 5 million people fled the country to escape poverty, hunger and lack of medical care. The impoverishment of the people is caused by a mix of reasons and political instability.
In Venezuela minimum wage is around ā¬2,25 a month. Because of hyperinflation and rise in costs of food and other living expenses, working full-time is in no way going to cover anyones basic needs. Combined with political unrest and repression a lot of people choose to leave. Most of them flee to neighbouring countries like Colombia, Brazil and CuraƧao.
Randyās project
Randy decided to return to Venezuela, inspired by the work we did at the Colombian border. He returned to his old neighbourhood in Caracas to continue working with children to make their lives better. By providing them with food and clothing Randy made sure that their basic needs are met.
A few months ago I started a crowdfunding for Randy to help him with his cause. We raised enough money to make sure that Randy could continue working for a month. At the time Randy was feeding and helping 60 kids, he expanded his project and is now feeding a total of 100 kids.
In the past months Randy continued working trying to improve his project and expanding the activities. He is organising even more events in which the children get to learn and play in these difficult times. He is professionalizing the way he’s working and tries to cut cost do be able to do more.
One of the great examples of the way Randy is working is the soccer tournament for the neighbourhood children. By providing them with the proper equipment and making sure they learn about fair play and collaboration he adds value to this beautiful day.
Covid-19
During the Covid-19 pandemic Randy and his volunteers made sure that they did everything they could to keep the children safe. People started to sew mouth masks for all of the children.
Venezuela is still suffering, the Covid-19 pandemic is making matters only worse. The lack of access to medical care, hospitals and medication makes life uncertain, many people are dying. Especially in these uncertain times help is needed even more.
Randyās work continues
Randy didnāt stop working, every day without any self-interest he’s doing everything in his power to take care of “his” 100 kids. With help of the local church community he is setting up a database to make sure the children are well-documented and to be able to keep an eye on them.
Another thing Randy didn’t stop doing is dreaming. Every day he’s thinking about ways to improve and help even more kids. Now he’s able to provide basic food for the children. One of the things we are now working on is providing better food by cutting expenses.
We need your help
Randy does a great job, but he cannot do this alone. He needs your help. Together we can make sure that Randy can continue his fantastic work and expand the project and make it durable. With your help we can change lives in one of the most difficult countries to be born in.
Randy’s project is a great way of making a change for 100 kids. In a country dealing with hyperinflation, poverty and hunger like Venezuela more help is needed. Together we can make a big change in this situation for these children.
Every day Randy sends me pictures with a phone we donated to him to share what he has bought and the activities of that day. From now on I will share them with you. I have hundreds of pictures and videos from the last few months. I’m also working on a special page for Randy.
The roadmap
This must be a sustainable project that can really help the 100 children of Randy to a better future. We are going to do this in three steps.
Step 1: Maintaining the emergency aid.
In the past few months, Randy has fed and supported the 100 children daily. The costs for this emergency aid were approximately ā¬ 20 each day. Friends of mine and I have been able to help Randy with this until now.
Soon you will be able to adopt a specific day to support Randy or claim a day as a present for someone else. On that day you will receive all the photos and videos of that day so you can see what good your donation did.
Until I finish that technical part you can support Randy directly through his page. You can help this 100 children directly and of course we will share all of the progress every single day.
Step 2: Building on the basics.
Only feeding the children is not enough. A lot of them don’t have any education or healthcare, some are really sick. To work on that I have got a plan.
In the next few months I will search for corporations, schools and hospitals who are willing to adopt a local teacher, doctor or other professional so we can start classes and medical support. We plan to have this up and running around September 2020.
In the last few months we already invested in a small school for some urgent help but of course that is far from enough. Contact me if you think you know a hospital, school or company who might be willing to adopt a professional.
Step 3: Working on the specifics.
Besides the emergency aid and basic needs, all of Randy’s 100 children have specific needs. Some are sick, others need special education and all of them have dreams.
At this time and in the near future we are working on making a profile of each of the children. They will get a medical check-up with the help of friends and we will see what is needed for each child. we also map out every child’s dreams.
Later this year, around November, you will be able to adopt and support the specific needs and dreams of any of Randy’s 100 children. Everything we do will be transparent, the good things that happen, as well as the setbacks that may occur.
How you can help
There is still a lot of work to do, so bare with me, but if we succeed in helping this 100 children we can take a next step by helping more. Please start supporting today so we can keep the emergency support up and running. You can do that here.
Please contact me if you have any questions at all. E-mail me at michelspekkers@gmail.com or find me on whatsapp, telegram or signal on +31610314715. All of your support will be for Randy’s 100 children, there is no big corporation in between. Thank you for your time.
