I saw the footage and I had to put my phone down for a minute, A three-year-old child that was being pulled out of rubble six days after the ground swallowed everything around her. Six days and the people who found her didn't stop, they kept digging even when the window for survival was closing, even when the numbers were saying it was probably too late, Civilians were down there with their bare hands and shovels, calling out into the debris, listening for anything, that kind of thing doesn't leave you quickly.
The Venezuela earthquakes left over 1,700 people dead, more than 3,200 injured, and an estimated 1.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid 680,000 of them children, and in the middle of all of that devastation, there were people who chose to stay and help , Rescue workers, volunteers, aid workers, people who had every reason to walk away and didn't.
As a Nigerian watching this from thousands of miles away, the question of what I would do for those people sits heavy, because we understand something about survival here, we understand what it means to hold a community together when systems fail you, and what happened in Venezuela a government that showed up to take selfies at rubble sites while survivors were still trapped underneath that is not unfamiliar energy on this side of the world either.
So what would I do for the ones who actually showed up?
First, I would use every platform I have to make sure people know their names, not just the organisations, the actual people, the man who spent two straight days digging for his family and still stopped to help a stranger, the rescue teams from seven different countries who worked for days to free one person trapped under a collapsed mall, some survivors spent up to eight days beneath the rubble before they were rescue, Eight days, someone had to believe that was still worth trying, I want that person known.
Second, I would raise money. Genuinely, intentionally, not just a repost and a prayer, a fundraiser, a community contribution, something that actually moves, because organisations like Convoy of Hope are still on the ground providing food, water, hygiene kits, and hot meals through mobile kitchens, and that work costs money every single day
, the cameras move on, the need does not.
Third, I would advocate for these volunteers to receive formal recognition, a certificate means little to someone who just pulled a child from concrete, but funding, training resources, proper equipment for the next disaster those things matter, Heroes should not have to fundraise for their gear.
And finally, I would simply say thank you, Loudly, repeatedly, in a world where people are increasingly doing the least, the ones who do the most deserve to hear it.
Humanity showed up in Venezuela in the most beautiful and painful way, the least the rest of us can do is refuse to look away.
Image Is Generated With Gemini AI
