A New Beginning: Fleeing Venezuela




My name is Kara Iribarren and I live in Fayetteville, AR. My mother is from Oklahoma and my father is from Venezuela. They met in college at OSU, and I was the lucky product of their short marriage. I have lived in Fayetteville most of my life and , and I have not seen my family in Venezuela for 10 years because the country has steadily gotten more impoverished and dangerous. Now My family is in desperate need of help.

I started this campaign last year with a plan for my family to go to La Mesa, Columbia and stay in my friend’s house. The house never became available, so we have been stuck in limbo for awhile.

The situation in Venezuela has continued to decline. The country is having regular blackouts now. The last message I received from my father was to tell me Happy Mother’s Day early because he was afraid the electricity would be out the next day. There has been a lot of violence in the streets of Caracas by the government against the citizens. My sisters have four small children, two of whom need anticonvulsant medications that they can only get on the black market now. There is a huge shortage of food and medicine and their government is not allowing any foreign assistance into the country. When groceries are delivered to the stores, people rush in and buy it all up so that they can sell it on the black market. My father is getting old and my sisters have young children. They need to get out.

This campaign is to raise money for their travel (around $1200) and rent for one year ($4800). I will continue to send them $200 a month for food. I just need to make sure they have a place to live until they can get back on their feet.

I am so proud to be apart of an amazing community that I have seen do wonderful things for those in need, and now I am asking. Please help in any way that you can! We can save a whole family and maybe my kids will get to meet their grandpa someday. Every little bit helps!