After a week of visiting San Diego, my friend Lisa and her daughter Isabela went home to Mexico to find their small town in shambles. Just a day before they caught a flight back, Hurricane Carlotta hit the coast and wreaked havoc on what was already a poor area. It’s crazy that we had JUST been laughing about how Isabela called the ribbon wand I gave her a “fishing pole.” I remember Lisa’s response was, “Can you tell she’s from a fishing town?!”
From what I had seen in pictures, the beautiful, quaint community was filled with smiling neighbors, sandy beaches, and barefoot kids…the kind of place where life moves at a different pace and everyone who lives there knows how to appreciate life. Now, it’s a flooded, broken mess. Please take a minute to read Lisa’s message below and help her in the effort of rebuilding her town!
Hurricane Carlotta affected tens of thousands of people here along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico last Friday, June 15, 2012. Nearly every single community along the hurricane’s path was already poverty stricken – by Mexican standards. Most of the damage was done as a result of roofs being ripped from homes and the insides of homes being flooded. Things most of us take for granted like clot…hing and mattresses, furniture, pots and pans, things you and I are able to replace with relative ease were destroyed and cannot be afforded. Government help has started to arrive in the form of free asbestos sheets to build new roofs.
The economy in Puerto Angel revolves around fishing, and many boats were lost to the storm. Boats parked on the shore were ripped from their moors and dragged into the ocean to sink. A few miles inland from us, people depend on their crops: mango, papaya, lime, melon, watermelon, corn, and higher in the nearby mountains coffee, to name only a few. Fields were destroyed and from where we are on the coast to high in the Sierra Madre next door, thousands of trees were ripped from their roots.
It seems unlikely we’d be able to raise enough money to help everyone affected by hurricane Carlotta, but we are making this effort to help our most immediate neighbors first, and then working concentrically around us. Our neighbors in Barrio del Sol, Puerto Angel, Oaxaca will be the initial focus. First, damage will be assessed home by home; then, families will be asked to fill out an “application” of sorts estimating the damage and what materials are needed to rebuild their home. All aid will be distributed on a strictly need-based scale.
We are asking our family and friends to help if they can, and if the effort grows, we will expand the relief to include all of Puerto Angel, and if it is possible, our neighboring towns of Zipolite, San Agustinillo, Mazunte, and Ventanilla, as well. We will post before, during, and after photos on this page so that all those who helped can see the difference they have made. For those who cannot make donations, positive vibes, smiles, posts, pictures, and love go a long way to help too! And of course, please share the page and ask everyone in the universe you know to like and share the page.
This effort will be managed entirely by myself, Lisa Wright and my husband, Marcos Lopez (with help from Isabela, of course). Our dear friend Philip Rosenberg inspired this effort, as well, and will manage a portion of it from Brooklyn, New York, donating services from his marketing firm Kensington Media (facebook.com/kensingtonmedia). Thank you Phil!!!
