AHAH Monthly Program Update - Mexico (February 2021)

MEXICO EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY UPDATE FEBRUARY 2021

TOTAL PROGRAM IMPACT

247 34 675 2

STUDENTS IMPACTED

VOLUNTEERS

Current Activities After months of hard work and preparation from our Program Development Team and across the organization, the staff were delighted to welcome our first international cohort of DM12 volunteers to Oaxaca at the end of January!

VOLUNTEER DAYS

SCHOOLS IN PROGRESS

Following a mandatory quarantine period, and two rounds of negative COVID-19 tests, the 34 volunteers engaged in their first day of site work on Friday January 29. Priorities for the weeks ahead at both Vicente Guerrero Primary School and Paulo Freire Secondary School will be to prepare and pour the foundations, and to cut and bend rebar.

Partner Spotlight Airlink is a nonprofit organization that works with aviation and logistics partners to transport relief workers and emergency supplies for reputable NGOs responding to disasters and humanitarian crises around the globe. We are incredibly grateful for our long-standing partnership with Airlink, which has supported us to transport staff and DM12 volunteers to five program locations in 2021 alone.

Airlink coordinated flight travel for four program staff members and 34 volunteers to our Mexico program. This was achieved with support from several of their airline partners, so we’d also like to extend our thanks to United Airlines, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Volaris, and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy for their generous support.

Photos: (top) an AHAH staff member doing an orientation session with the local masons, (left) a volunteer cutting a batter board in preparation for pouring the concrete foundation.

Learn about our programs at

allhandsandhearts.org

Disaster Profile In September 2017, one of the most lethal earthquakes in Mexican history hit close to the southern state of Chiapas, with a devastating magnitude of 8.2. Just 12 days later and a few hundred miles away, a 7.1 magnitude quake rocked central Mexico, toppling buildings, breaking gas mains, knocking out electricity and sparking fires across the city and other towns in central Mexico.

Our Work Our efforts in Mexico began in March 2018 in El Jicarero, Morelos, where we partnered with Happy Hearts Fund (now All Hands and Hearts Mexico) to reconstruct and retrofit two primary schools. Since then, we’ve run two volunteer programs in Oaxaca and have rebuilt another four schools, including playgrounds, libraries and WASH facilities. In addition to our construction work on the schools, our teams collaborate with local partners to identify Renewal Projects with an aim to build community resilience. To date, we’ve implemented a community Disaster Risk Reduction Training program, reactivated a community waste management system and piloted an agricultural education program. In 2021, we’re excited to be working on Escuela Secundaria Paulo Freire and Escuela Primaria Insurgente Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca.

About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure.

We have earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator for the seventh year in a row. This year only seven percent of rated non-profits received this distinction for financial and operational efficiency.

Photos: (top) a volunteer bending rebar, (right) a map of our new base of operations in Santa Maria Tonameca, Oaxaca.

Our Partners

info@allhandsandhearts.org (508) 758-8211