Plain packages of pencils.
That’s all it took to bring beaming smiles to the faces of young children when Rafael Recavarren helped hand out the writing supplies in an impoverished neighbourhood during a trip to Peru last December.
“It was like Christmas for them and we gave them iPhones,” said the McMath grad, who recently completed his third year in business school in Toronto at the University of Western Ontario.
“Who knew something as simple as pencils could bring them so much happiness.”
Recavarren is hoping to re-establish smiles on the faces of those children, as well as their parents and many others, as he promotes a fundraising event on May 27 at Legends Pub in Richmond, that will help bring assistance to a country hard hit by a series of natural weather disasters, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
“And in many cases, it’s the people who have very little who have suffered the most,” said Recavarren, 20, whose parents came to Canada from Peru 25 years ago and established a car maintenance specialty garage locally.
This year, the El Nino current hit the South American country extremely hard, creating severe floods and landslides that has left many critical services, such as hospitals and schools, badly damaged or destroyed in their wake.
Estimates put the homeless, directly impacted by the disaster, at 600,000. And since Peru has a lower profile on the international stage than most other countries, assistance efforts for residents of the impacted towns and villages, where many live in Third World conditions, has not been widespread.
“For me, Peru, it’s like my second home,” said Recavarren, whose family make regular trips there to re-connect with family. “It’s my heritage. It’s where many of my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents still live.”
The visits are also a way to keep her children grounded and thankful for what they have here in Canada, said Recavarren’s mother, Stephanie.
“There’s no poverty here in Canada,” she said. “But in Peru, it’s like a Third World country, where families live on $100 a year.
“And we take the kids to Peru, not only to visit family, but to also encourage them to see the reality of life there for many.”
When it comes to raising funds for Peru’s disaster victims, there’s also some reluctance to donate because of widespread corruption in the country, which hampers efforts to deliver aid to where it can do the most good.
But thanks to a growing number of charities and non-profit organizations in Peru, the situation is getting better.
That’s why Recavarren said he has enlisted the help of Fundacion Oli - a well-known and established foundation in Peru, which donates 100 per cent of the money it raises to needy causes.
“The government there doesn’t do much,” Stephanie said. “So, it’s those people in Peru who belong to the higher social classes and have had a more privileged upbringing who are stepping in and helping fill the gap.”
The goal is to raise $5,000 through a crowd-funding page Recavarren has also set up for those who cannot attend the pub night.
”And a dollar there is much more useful than a dollar here,” he said, adding each $70 raised can provide clean water for 100 people. And $50 can feed a family of five for a week.
For more information about the crowdfunding page, visit online at YouCaring.com/FundacionOli-820255. Tickets for a burger and a beer during the May 27 pub night at Legends are $20, with $10 going towards disaster relief efforts.
