Red Cross volunteers on the move for indigenous communities affected by COVID-19
In the Americas region, only 1.8% of the total investment in health is allocated to mental health, according to the WHO. This gap is highlighted by the great negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people’s well-being.
Without the support of basic psychosocial services, communities have faced the dramatic loss of 2.3 million lives on the continent, the devastating socioeconomic effects represented in the increase of poverty -with 209 million people by 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean-, the loss of household’s income, or the lack of access to education for boys and girls.
Children have been seriously affected; the Economic commission for Latin America (ECLAC) and the International labour Organization (ILO) estimate that between 100,000 and 300,000 children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean would enter the labour market as a consequence of the pandemic, leaving aside their education. With it, their mental health as well as the opportunities to develop their full potential are at risk.
For those in vulnerable situations, the outlook is more serious. In Colombia, as of November 2021, less than half of the population (48 percent) had a complete vaccination scheme, with this context the socioeconomic recovery for the other half has a long way to go. Unequal access to vaccines and limitations in receiving psychosocial support services will result in an uneven recovery.
Copyright: Luis Rosero, IFRC
The Amazon communities of Colombia at risk
38.6% of the population in Colombia suffered from nervousness in 2020, and in response the State prioritized psychosocial support during the pandemic by offering remote support via telephone. In hard-to-reach areas such as the department of Amazonas, this help did not reach many communities, despite the region registering the highest death rate from COVID-19 in June 2020.
The indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon, which represent 17 percent of the department’s population, suffered from the closure of borders of the neighbouring countries and river ports, affecting their local economies, food security, access to health and education services.
To alleviate the humanitarian emergency in this region, the Colombian Red Cross (CRC) implemented two projects with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Through these projects, psychosocial help was provided to indigenous children, the delivery of multipurpose monetary assistance to adults in vulnerable situations, the implementation of water and sanitation (WASH) activities, the strengthening of the local hospital network and the delivery of medical supplies to public hospitals in Leticia and Puerto Nariño.
Red Cross volunteers, a fundamental pillar of the intervention
654 people have benefited from participative activities on mental health and psychosocial support provided to the community, health personnel, and children of four educational institutions. The CRC staff implements them, with the support of volunteers, such as 21 years old Laura Londoño, who works with the Amazonas Section of the CRC as a volunteer and youth director.
“Being a volunteer is everything, it is the opportunity to sow something in someone’s life, to help without receiving anything in return, to have knowledge and be able to transmit it …” Laura comments about the meaning of this aspect in her life. As an industrial engineering student, she spends her free time supporting the Leticia’s public hospital where she performs epidemiological surveillance accompanied by her mother.
Three years ago, she began to strengthen the group of volunteers who are at the forefront of the pandemic. At the beginning, many of them were affected by job loss, and even three lost their lives from symptoms of COVID-19, when the group consisted of four minors and two older adults. Today more than 20 minors have joined this group, which still remembers the death of a CRC staff member and 10 relatives of the volunteer team during the pandemic.To provide psychosocial support to the affected indigenous communities, Laura and her team of volunteers, as well as the CRC staff, travel by boat for two hours crossing the Amazon River to the school in the village of Puerto Nariño. “COVID-19 caused the death of several relatives of the children and teachers from the school,” explains Adler Ahué Ruíz, director of the local school.
The team prepares a puppet theatre under 40 degrees of thermal sensation, which serves as the beginning of the psychosocial activities that generate the necessary confidence with boys and girls, through laughter, jokes and interactions, to facilitate the intervention.
Didactic methodologies continue with drawing workshops, where participants have the opportunity to express their emotions and learn tools to seek required support if needed. “Being away from school during the pandemic was difficult, after returning to classes we feel better because we can play with our friends and learn together,” says one boy that participated in the activities.
Under the direction of the volunteer’s team, boys and girls recognize techniques to work in groups, sharing work materials and drawing a t-shirt that has a mandala printed on it, as a mechanism for relaxation and support of their emotions. Each of the participants paints the fabric according to their own preferences and personality.
In these psychosocial support activities, Laura continues a long humanitarian tradition that she shares with her mother and father, John Jairo Londoño Rivera, who in 2007 at the age of 33, died as a lifeguard in the Magdalena River after having rescued 7 people.
The philanthropic global work of the team of 14 million volunteers of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is also represented in this team, which from the Colombian Amazonia, contributes to bring humanitarian assistance, here and in more than 192 countries, reaching the communities in greatest need.
Thanks to this valuable work, as of October 2021, the COVID-19 Appeal project implemented by the Colombian Red Cross in the departments of Bolivar, Choco, Nariño and Amazonas, has reached millions of people under its three pillars of intervention: 4,718,036 people have benefited from activities to stop the pandemic and maintain health, 1,409 have benefited from actions to alleviate the socioeconomic impact and 6,160 people have taken part in efforts to strengthen the Colombian Red Cross.
