On the Ground Update: Displaced Venezuelans In Urgent Need of Help
Project HOPE ‘s Teresa Narvaez visited Colombia and Ecuador in September to prepare for HOPE’s response to the Venezuelan crisis. Read her first-person account and learn how to help.
Update March 15, 2019: This story has been updated with additional photos of the Venezuela crisis at the border and at the hospital.
For the latest developments on Project HOPE’s activities along the Colombia-Venezuela border and how to help Venezuelans, be sure to bookmark our Venezuela Quick Facts page to stay up-to-date.
Original Post:
Desperate hungry children and families, exhausted by hours of walking and emotionally depleted by the pain of leaving loved ones behind, huddle in long lines at the border of Venezuela and Colombia. These are the faces of what has become the Western Hemisphere’s biggest humanitarian crisis. Millions of Venezuelans have fled into Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and beyond, seeking to escape fast-worsening economic and political conditions.
For many Venezuelans, this painful, hazardous journey is their only option. Extreme hyperinflation and severe shortages of food, medicine and health care at home have forced this impossible choice.
My organization, Project HOPE, is preparing to respond to this crisis and I recently visited border cities in Colombia and Ecuador to assess the needs of displaced Venezuelans and their host communities.
During my trip, I met families grasping for hope and crying children who had endured long journeys on foot – some with no food – in extreme weather conditions.
On the ground with Venezuelans: hunger and harsh conditions
For many, the little money they had when they left Venezuela had all been quickly spent in the struggle to survive. In one city alone – the Municipality of Villa del Rosario in Colombia – we witnessed food delivery to thousands of displaced Venezuelans.
Along the border town of Rumichaca, between Venezuela and Ecuador, where the temperature ranges between 39 and 51 degrees Fahrenheit, sometimes dropping to freezing, people were hungry and cold. Most Venezuelans who had fled didn’t have adequate clothing for winter conditions, and many were looking for someone to give them a glass of water, a piece of bread or a hot meal.
Venezuelans face an escalating health crisis
The influx of Venezuelans is overwhelming health care systems and straining local services in host countries. This situation will likely worsen as the exodus of Venezuelans continues. By next year, three million people are expected to have fled Venezuela.
As a registered nurse, the health crisis is especially distressing to me. Support for health needs of displaced Venezuelans is an urgent gap, since the Colombian health system requires health insurance to care for the ill.
Although Colombia is willing to provide emergency care, the cost of services for this large group of displaced people generates a huge expense to public hospitals and it’s putting additional strain on budgets that are already overburdened.
Additionally, an alarming increase in infectious diseases, such as measles, diphtheria, chickenpox and hepatitis, is putting not only Venezuelans at risk, but also host country populations.
Lack of housing poses additional threats to Venezuelans
Families who have fled Venezuela face significant problems finding shelter and many must bed down for the night in public spaces, with no security, control or protection. Young women are forced to resort to offering sexual services for a couple of dollars just to buy food for themselves and their children. As a result, there has been an increase in cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Environmental sanitation in these border areas is insufficient and there aren’t enough clean toilets available. People have no options for restroom facilities and are forced to use the streets, the walls, the parks – anywhere they can find.
What’s next for Venezuelan families?
The families and their host communities desperately need health assistance: medicines and vaccines, medical supplies and equipment, the training of health workers and the coordination of medical brigades to boost the capacity of the existing health systems. And for too many, time is running out.
[bctt tweet=”Millions of Venezuelans are fleeing into Colombia. Project HOPE is there. You can help too: https://www.projecthope.org/venezuela” username=”projecthopeorg” /]Teresa Narvaez, RN, is Project HOPE’s Dominican Republic Country Director and has been integral in our Colombia response needs assessment. We are now on the ground, working with partners, the Colombian Ministry of Health and hospitals; our doctors are providing care to Venezuelans who entering Colombia in search of medical and humanitarian assistance.