Mediterranea 4th World programs in Mallorca, an update:
-Food Programs:----------
1) We continue to collaborate with Zaqueo; the soup kitchen for the homeless in Palma. We provide them with food and clothes. At the same time Mediterranea volunteers go there to help out with the serving of the food and cleaning up the center.
2) We have helped to refurbish Casa Llarga and Can Gaza, and have provided them with clothes, food, furniture, kitchenware, medical supplies etc. Both of these places are hospices for aged men who are marginalized by society. We have also helped them set up a shop so that they can better their income.
3)In November 2009 (14 weeks ago) we started a project which was initially meant to help those Subsaharians who had neither food, help nor resources of any kind and we felt that they were a particularly vulnerable group. The program consists of giving out basic food supplies for a week at a time.It takes in to account the cultural background of the target group and what they usually eat. This avoids wastage.
At present we are feeding up to 250 people in Palma and 220 people in Calvia which makes 470 people. Even though most are young men (20 to 30 age group) there are some families with small children. The food is sufficient or 3 meals a day per person, that makes 1410 meals a day and 9870 a week. We estimate that since we began the project in November near to 100000 meals have been had through Mediterranea's program in Palma and Calvia. The actual amount is probably greater as the Africans are very generous with food and always invite people to share the little they have. The people who benefit from this project are not only Sub Saharians, there are also North Africans, South Americans and Europeans.
By the end of the first week in February we had distributed over 13,646 kilos of food. The distribution of food to the 220 people in Palma Nova is carried out in the San Lorenzo Church in collaboration with Padre Eugenio and his team. We calculate that they have provided over 7000kg of food which brings the total to over 20500kg.
Our initial plan was to continue with this program until the tourist season starts as it will be easier for this group of people to find jobs and become self sufficient as from then.
-Clothing:----------
It is impossible at this time to calculate the kilos of clothes, sleeping bags, sheets, towels, blankets, toys and nappies we have given out. We try to give these things out at the time of the handing out the food.
-Medical supplies and services:-----------
We have managed to link up to the Ophthalmology department at the Juaneda Clinic and they attend to all the eye problems the people we help may have. At the same time we provide medicines to those that can not afford to buy them.
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Education:-----------
As asked by the Senegalese, we have started to teach some of the people how to read and write, others Spanish, others English and in the very near future we will provide them with computering lessons. This fills their days, gives them a feeling of doing something productive and betters their chances of finding job in the future.
In this group there are people from Spain, Venezuela, Uruguay, Senegal, Morroco and as from next week there will be people from Mali too.
The teachers and volunteers do this work free of charge and we are looking for more volunteers able to do these courses.
These people need food and help now, not some time in the vague future.
The construction we are doing, of the 8 new toilets for the girls, is going well.
