FOR a young woman from Uitenhage who is stuck in Lima, Peru, there are only 11 days left for a possible flight back home. Monday this week R11 000 was till needed to fund her ticket to South Africa.
Lauren Kroutz (20) is one of a group of five South Africans stranded in Lima, after they were transported by the local embassy from other parts of the country to the city where they were told they would charter a flight back home.
But several weeks later, they are still languishing in Lima without any income and with no word on being repatriated.
Kroutz left her hometown of Uitenhage six months ago to teach English in the city of Cusco, Peru. In the meanwhile the initiative “Run 4 Lauren”, was started by Gary Hendricks, an educator at Uitenhage High School, where Lauren matriculated. This initiative inspired a whole community to get active and help raise funds to bring Lauren back home.
The idea is to have a virtual 5km run/walk in residents’ own backyards or driveways. All you need to do to help get Lauren back in South Africa, is to pay a R50 registration fee to support the “Run 4 Lauren” initiative on Facebook.
“The support from the community is absolutely awesome. Within two weeks we have already raised R19 000 through the initiative, but still need R11 000,” said Gary Hendricks, who started the Run 4 Lauren initiative.
“Initially it was said the flight would cost R40 000, but the possible flight back home from São Paulo to Johannesburg on June 15th costs R15 000 and the flight from Lima to Sao Paulo is also R15 000. All we need is only 220 people to participate in the Run 4 Lauren at a cost of R50 and then we will meet the target!”
According to Vanessa Kroutz, Lauren’s mother, the public’s support back home, has inspired and gave her daughter hope during this very unfortunate time of being stranded in a foreign country.
“We wish to thank all for participating. It means the world to Lauren. Her spirit is still good, but she is very much longing back home and said she especially misses South African traditional home-cooked foods, to braai and potato chips. The infections and conditions related to the Covid-19 virus are very bad in Peru. Apparently the lockdown regulations are much more strict than here. Women and men are allowed separately, on allocated days, to go out to get food,” said Kroutz.
The public are encouraged to participate in the Run 4 Lauren initiative to help raise the R11 000 still needed for her to fly back home.
Deposits can be made to:
Capitec Bank
Lauren Kroutz, account no: 1614895447.
Type of account: Savings
