Jimena Balli Garza is many things.
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She is a qualified vet who has assisted the UN in Afghanistan.
She is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania.
She is also a wife living on the other side of the world from her husband in Mexico City.
So, when a series of powerful earthquakes shook the country’s densely populated capital in September, she did the only this she could – she got on social media and started helping.
Then something remarkable happened.
A group of women all connected through Facebook started knitting beanies.
It was a small but positive gesture to a terrible tragedy that shook the world.
On the afternoon of September 19, Mexico City was hit by a 7.1 magnitude quake that lasted for about 20 seconds.
It killed 370 people, injured more than 6000, caused the collapse of 40 buildings and left thousands without power, or resources.
Coincidentally it occurred 32 years to the day since a 1985 tremor killed more than 10,000 people in the same city.
When news of the latest disaster hit, Jimina said she received a text message from her husband Carlos Bautista telling her what had happened and that he was okay.
Then, she lost all contact with him.
For two days Jimena said she was unable to talk to her husband as the severity of quake settled in.
The city of more than 21 million people was left absolutely shattered and without power, as desperate rescue efforts began to find people trapped in the rubble.
Taking solace in social media, Jimena said she was bombarded with images of the devastation.
She wanted to help but didn’t know how.
“Everything that I wanted to do, I needed to be there in Mexico City on the ground,” she said.
“But I didn’t have the funds to just go back.
“It was a very stressful time and I felt really helpless.
“I could see all the really bad things that were happening to so many people, but also the pets.
“As a vet, that hit me really bad.”
Through Facebook and Twitter Jimena said she was able to connect with numerous online brigadiers who were coordinating relief efforts on the ground in Mexico City.
Here, online, she found her platform to help and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Launceston’s Sheena Harris recognised the anguish her friend was going through and decided to do something.
“I was seeing all of her posts on Facebook and I just felt terrible for her and everyone in Mexico City,” she said.
“I wanted to do something to show that people care.
“All I could think to do was to knit something.”
Sheena and her friends Vanessa Clark, Charmaine Lamond, Gaye Rossetto, Sue Thornton, Wendy Symons and Rebekah Kuronen got to work.
Most of them had never met Jimena, but through Facebook and a love of knitting they served a common purpose.
Just a month later they had more than 80 brightly coloured beanies and jumpers between them, all ready to be sent to Mexico with little messages of love.
Growing up in a semi-rural part of the State of Mexico, Jimena’s childhood was spent among nature, including lots of gum trees.
Her family moved to Mexico City when she was 11 and it was around this age that her passion for research began.
She spent 10 years working at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Autonomous University of Mexico before taking up an opportunity with the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations in Kabul, Afghanistan.
There, she completed two missions, carrying out surveillance on diseases in the areas of bacteriology and molecular bacteriology.
Her next chapter brought her to Australia where she is currently completing a PhD at the University of Tasmania.
She said her home in the hills of South Launceston has once again brought her closer to the gum trees.
“One of the things I love the most of Tasmania is being so close to nature,” she said.
“Being able to see and hear so many different animals every day, you become part of it.
“Cockatoos, wallabies, pademelons, sometimes wombats.
“I even enjoy the possums partying on top of my roof at night every now and then.
“I’ve meet so many wonderful people here, people that I have become very fond of.”
You should never underestimate the power of a small group of women who knit.
- Vannessa Clark
Among them is Vanessa Clark, one of the women who contributed to the beanie effort.
A stranger to Jimena until Thursday but connected through Facebook, Vanessa said the experience has completely changed the way she thinks about things.
“You should never underestimate the power of a small group of women who knit,” she said.
“What we have done as a group has really led me to pause and reflect on the power of reaching out across cultures.
“They say that charity begins at home, but many people misunderstand that to mean you should only help the people around you.
“That is not what it is about. It means you should be teaching your kids at home what charity is and the act of giving.”
On Thursday Jimena saw the beanies for the first time and said she couldn’t believe just how many been made.
They will now be sent of to Mexico City where her husband will help distribute them to people in need.
Each one is also attached with a hand written note that reads ‘sending love in a little hat’.
Jimena said the message will have a special meaning to the people who receive them.
“In Mexico City we talk about everything as ‘a little’ because it is such a big place,” she said. “Now people will have their own little hat.”