Trying to cope with the flooding affects of El Nino, the people of Peru put out the call that many parts of the country are under a state of emergency.
From one flooded Peruvian town, a Prince George woman got a call from her mother that the torrential rains keep coming and local weather forecasters predict it won't stop until May.
In answer to that call, Giulliana Tamblyn, president of the Peruvian Anti-Poverty Action Society (PAPAS), will soon visit her family in Tambogrande, the same town in which she grew up, in the Piura province of the San Lorenzo region, northwest Peru.
"In Piura there are more than 32,000 families left without houses, food or water because the rivers have flooded," Tamblyn said. "People were running in the middle of the night to try to save their lives. Those are my people and this is really sad."
Tamblyn is looking to bring as much help with her as she can when she heads there next week for a three-week visit. To that end, PAPAS will host a fundraiser Saturday night at the Prince George Legion.
The doors open at 6 p.m., dinner is at 7 p.m. and entertainment with a Latin flavour begins at 8 p.m.
Tamblyn has lived in Prince George for 15 years and returns to her homeland quite often, she said.
"I do community engagement work there," Tamblyn said. "With our organization, we try to help people in need, especially women, trying to provide socio-economic development. As the rain continues the situation gets worse with people falling ill and others not able to work."
Tamblyn created PAPAS to help alleviate poverty in Peru and around the world.
PAPAS will be partnering with Seres Forjando Desarrollo (loosely translated, it means people promoting development), an organization on the ground in Piura.
Tamblyn's organization will help immediately during the emergency, which has escalated from a call for tarps and sandbags in January to a now-desperate call for food and water as roadways are washed away, isolating towns and villages.
"Thousands of people have lost everything, everything," Tamblyn said. "It's a poor community and so people are just so vulnerable to natural disasters and it's a really sad situation there."
Tambogrande is an agricultural town, she said.
"We're talking about over 20,000 hectares of crops and agricultural land being just washed away," Tamblyn said.
"It's a real disaster there. It's going to be hard to see my town in a different way than I usually see it and live it, too. I'm hoping I can bring support for them.
"Shelter has been reduced to a tent village and meals are prepared by the community for the community," she added.
"So I am hoping the community of Prince George will support PAPAS's efforts there."
Tickets to the fundraiser are $35 each and available at the Prince George Legion, 1116 Sixth Ave., or by calling Tamblyn at 250-612-9492 or emailing [email protected].
To donate directly to the cause, donations are accepted at any branch of CIBC to the PAPAS account, with transit number 06050, institute number 010, account number 6924417.
