To create an educational foundation in Venezuela

Hi, my name is Carolina Graterol and I want to create a foundation in honour of my late sister Eneida.

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the death of my little sister Eneida from malaria in 2018 in Venezuela. She is part of the 40,000 Venezuelans who died that year from the inhumane system of sanctions imposed by the United States, according to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a think tank based in Washington.

My sister used to work as a volunteer for the municipal council of Upata, a small town in the Bolivar State in South East Venezuela, which saw an outbreak of malaria in 2018, as a result of the lack of vaccination and treatments due to the blockade and sanctions.

Eneida gave extracurricular art classes to primary school kids. She didn't get paid for this, but she never stop teaching and sharing her knowledge for free. Every time I went to visit her in Venezuela I asked her what she wanted from London and every time she answered: art supplies for my classes.

The death of my sister has deeply affected my family. Eneida died a few months before the deaths of our maternal and paternal grandmothers. My numerous uncles and aunties, and hundreds of cousins could not believe that a member of our family could die so soon and without warning from a disease easily treatable and which had been perfectly under control before US sanctions.

The pain felt by my mother, my father, my surviving sister and her children and husband and me was immense and still is.

My sister had a lot to give to her three children, to her family, to her community. With the creation of a foundation in her name, I hope to continue giving free education to the children living near our family home, which needs to be converted to facilitate lessons not just in art, but also in cookery, filming and English language. I would also like to run a free nursery and morning coffee groups for the elderly.

I am going to Venezuela at the end of this year to start establishing the work the foundation will do. With your donation things will move faster and I hope shortly start sharing the wonderful work we will doing for the kids in the community my sisters and I grew up.

Many thanks for your support for this project so close to my heart.