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Being Young: International students helping México

Proceeds from pizza and cupcake sales going to Red Cross.
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Marlowe Evans.

Thomas Haney secondary has pizza sales on Thursdays at lunchtime, the proceeds from which go to fund the school’s “Dry Grad” event.

However, the past two weeks have been slightly different. Yes, students were still able to get gooey, cheesy slices of pizza for two dollars each, but the proceeds were going toward a more pressing cause – México.

México was hit by two earthquakes in the past month. An 8.1 magnitude quake hit on Sept. 8, which resulted in the deaths of 100 people.

A second quake last week on Sept. 19. The latter 7.1 quake devastated a heavily populated section of the nation’s capital, México City.

According to CNN, the current death toll has reached 326, with countless others missing or injured.

School District No. 42 hosts international students from all over the world. We have a thriving International Education program; our city becomes a temporary home to students from China, Germany, Korea, France, Spain, and many other countries.

The program is beneficial in that students from abroad get to experience Canadian culture and educational innovations, while students in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows learn social responsibility and gain a perspective on global events otherwise unavailable.

All students involved make friends from around the world. Currently, there are many students studying in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who call México home. Among them is Brenda Martinez.

She is from México City.

“The school that I go to in México, it … got destroyed,” she said. “Five people were found dead.”

Martinez and her friends in the International Program, not only at Thomas Haney, but at several other local schools, took the initiative to fundraise for victims of the earthquake.

“We were finding a way to help while we were here, 4000-kilometres away,” explained Martinez.

She and other Méxican international students at THSS sold 18 boxes of pizza last Thursday, and filled up a donation box.

Martinez said the money will be donated to the Red Cross, “but now there’s a phone company there called TelCel.

For each peso that you donate, they’re going to donate five.”

TelCel is donating to disaster relief through the Carlos Slim Foundation, a non-profit based in México. To put the peso donations into perspective, one Canadian dollar is currently worth $14.52 in Méxican pesos.

Last week’s powerful earthquake hit on the anniversary of the 1985 México City earthquake that killed over 10 000 people and injured many more.

The death toll from the most recent quake is expected to rise, and those who are injured are now facing even more hardship.

“What they need is medicine,” said Martinez. “They’re running out of medicine – quickly.”

Resources in hospitals are running low, and many people have been left homeless by the disaster. Some buildings that didn’t collapse in the quake still sustained structural damage and must be demolished.

“They’re actually going to take down two buildings that were really affected,” Martinez said of her school, “and then they’re going to build them again.”

Martinez and her fellow Méxican international students continue to raise money for home. They have been raising funds via cupcake and pizza sales.

The general public can help those in México by donating to the Méxican Red Cross or Los Topos, a not-for-profit run by volunteers and set up after the 1985 earthquake.

Martinez and the rest of local Méxican students are a credit to their nation and to their families in this time of crisis. They are a prime example as to why the International Education program is a success.

Marlowe Evans is a senior student at Thomas Haney secondary who writes about youth issues.