A red cloth, the SOS of the poorest in the Colombian town of Soacha
Red rags are hung on many windows of the houses in Soacha, a municipality near Bogotá, indicating that there are people in that house who need urgent food and do not have access to it due to the quarantine of the coronavirus, so they appeal to the goodwill of others.
This phenomenon is most visible in Commune 4 of Cazucá, built on a mountain, with streets mostly without asphalt, where almost all the houses have a red rag hanging because those who inhabit them have no means of supplying themselves during the quarantine that began last 25 March and must end on April 13.
The mayor of Soacha, Juan Carlos Saldarriaga, explains to Efe that the majority of the inhabitants of this neighborhood "live from daily work, from rummage, from being street vendors", and there are also women who work cleaning in companies or houses in Bogotá .
"Today, due to the isolation, they cannot go out to do (the jobs) with what they search daily," says the mayor, specifying that, unlike other areas of Soacha, which according to unofficial data has more than a million inhabitants, the inhabitants of Cazucá must appeal to external solidarity and not to that of the neighbors, equally poor all.
Saldarriaga believes that "more people could die of hunger than of the coronavirus itself" in Soacha, one of the municipalities with the highest population density in Latin America, with 290 people per square kilometer, and with 36% of its population in extreme poverty.
COUNTERING AGGLOMERATIONS
The red cloth initiative, explains the mayor, began last week after he told the community "that those who had a need for hunger" would let them know by putting the garment on so they could get a market to them without needing to go out to the street.
"What this has allowed us today is that there are no crowds, but that people are calm at home, waiting for us to arrive with that market and I want to thank them because we are going to be able to distribute more than 200,000 markets," he says.
This contrasts with the images seen in Soacha on the first day of the quarantine, in which there were stations and buses full of people who claimed that their jobs are among the 34 activities exempt within the isolation decree.
The highest concentrations of people were seen at the Transmilenio station in San Mateo, the largest in Soacha, up to where the police and military arrived, all wearing masks, to try to control the situation and prevent the human anthill from having people who did not I was authorized to leave the house.
DONATIONS FROM ALL SECTORS
The markets, which last an average of one week, have been donated by entrepreneurs from various sectors, merchants from the wholesale market in Corabastos, by authorities and even by artists such as the singer Fonseca.
Most, Saldarriaga details, have "rice, oil, panela, sugar, lentils, beans and pasta", although he clarifies that this varies depending on who donates it, since some people and companies "deliver the armed market and others are donating (money ) on (bank) accounts for us to buy. "
The official is also aware that they are doing a great job but it is insufficient, as there are some 300,000 families, "half of the municipality, which requires food aid."
NOBODY WAS PREPARED
The student Alejandra González is alone in her house in Cazucá because her mother is taking care of her grandmother. The young woman has no job and is one of the beneficiaries of the red rag initiative, something she appreciates in "circumstances in which it is difficult" to get money.
"This is important because there are people who cannot get supplies (...). Neither we nor the State was prepared for this pandemic," he assures Efe.
González says he found out about the donations thanks to a neighbor who told him "that he should put the rag on because the mayor was going to come and we were going to collaborate with those of us who need resources."
In his opinion, the initiative has brought out the best in the inhabitants of his neighborhood, since he believes that whoever is well thinks about how to help others.
"It is a kind of network in which you do not think about the good of one but the good of the whole society. So I think this allows you to think about those people who work every day," concludes the young woman, smiling and with your market in hand.