Ten days have passed since the deadly earthquake struck Venezuela, and images from the ground continue to shock the world. According to official figures released by the Venezuelan government, the death toll now stands at 2,954 people, while the fate of some 41,000 missing remains unknown. Amid the chaos, roughly 30,000 rescue workers from around the world are operating on the ground, including a special Israeli relief mission and teams from ZAKA’s international division.
One of the most moving stories comes from a ZAKA team commanded by Yosef Garmon, ZAKA’s South America commander. In exclusive footage obtained by C14 from the field, Garmon describes meeting a local man who asked the Israeli team to help recover his mother’s body from an especially difficult and complex site. The son approached the volunteers after all other agencies refused to enter the structurally compromised location, which reeked of a sharp odor, and begged them to help.
“He saw we were from Israel and said, ‘Please come help, because no one else wants to help us now,'” Garmon recounts. According to him, the site was extremely complex from an engineering standpoint, and considerable time had passed since the disaster. “There was a sharp smell. He begged all the other agencies and no one wanted to go in there. He cried and said, ‘You have to.'”
ZAKA volunteers entered the difficult site and after considerable effort succeeded in recovering the mother’s body. After the recovery, the son—a Christian—shared that his mother had believed in idolatry and he had always hoped to bring her closer to God. He told them emotionally that he had dreamed Jews would come to save and help, and when he saw the volunteers arrive wearing kippot on their heads, he understood his dream had become reality.
At the son’s request, an impromptu and emotional ceremony took place at the disaster site, where ZAKA volunteers recited Psalm 121—”A Song of Ascents: I lift my eyes to the mountains”—together with family members. “He knew the words ‘The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in,’ he sang along with us and didn’t stop crying,” Garmon says.
Although ZAKA volunteers don’t typically document themselves during such sensitive moments, the son insisted on filming the ceremony. “He recorded it and wanted it distributed. He said: ‘I have to let people know what Israel is.’ It was a moment that made him stop crying and feel comforted.”