--- title: "Voices from a neglected crisis" description: "“My message to the world: it is sad, it is hard, and it is humiliating.”" url: "https://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2020/voices-from-a-neglected-crisis" language: "en" published: "2020-07-31T07:53:26Z" modified: "2020-07-31T07:53:26Z" --- ![June 25, 2020. Bogota, Colombia: Kendry Castro (23) is receiving the cash aid in the form of a card given to her by a worker from the NRC team after checking her documents. She has two children of one and three years. She came to Bogotá with them from Merida 6 months after her husband when he sent her the money for the trip and she finished her fifth grade of school. She had the dream of studying medicine but she had to leave it and go to her husband. In Merida, her husband had a motorcycle workshop. In Bogotá, he found a job in a fruit shop in the market place. But with the virus, he lost his job and now, he's out on the street looking for trash to sell for recycling. At this time, because the school is close, Kendry stays with her two children, she can’t work. Apart from the market given by the kindergarten, this is the first time they receive help, in 3 years of being in the country. "The other day at one point, I started crying, because I wanted to leave. I called my mother in Venezuela, I wanted to go, I did not want to be here. And she answered: "No! don't come! Look at the problems! Think of the children!" . If she has to say something to the world about her life as a refugee: "It's hard. It's both sad and humiliating. Since I've been in Bogota, there are people who insult you. For being Venezuelan, they insult you. (...) There are many of us who wouldn't want this to happen to us. Because it's hard to come from a place where you are loved and cherished, to a place where you are humiliated, discriminated against, looked down on." Her two children were born in Colombia, they are nationalized. And her husband is also Colombian: his parents were displaced by the internal war in Colombia and found refuge in Venezuela. Today, her grandmother has to return to Colombia. Kendry says, "My children's grandmother is Colombian. And she cries, and she says she wants to go to Venezuela, where she has her car, her house, her farm. Here, no. Here, she doesn't have it now." Credit: Nadège Mazars for NRC](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/051_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) Colombia # Voices from a neglected crisis TEXT: Roald Høvring PHOTO: Nadège Mazars Published 31. Jul 2020 [Colombia](https://www.nrc.no/themes?categoryId=41) [Coronavirus](https://www.nrc.no/themes?categoryId=347) Kendry Castro is among more than five million refugees and migrants that have left Venezuela for other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years. Nadège Mazars/NRC This article was first published more than 6 years ago “My message to the world: it is sad, it is hard, and it is humiliating.” This is the voice of Kendry Castro, a 23-year-old Venezuelan living in Colombia. She is among more than five million refugees and migrants that have left Venezuela for other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic is now forcing tens of thousands of people like Kendry to live in deep poverty or depend on humanitarian aid, as lockdown measures prevent them from earning a living. ![Venezuelans wait in line to take part in a workshop on Covid-19 organised by NRC. They will receive financial assistance spread over six months, to cope with the reduction of their income due to lockdown. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/040_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) **Photographer NADÈGE MAZAR met with some of these Venezuelans as they were receiving a cash grant from NRC in the Colombian capital of Bogota.** Kendry Castro, 23, has two children, aged one and three, and originally comes from Merida in north-west Venezuela. First her husband left to search for a living in the Colombian capital Bogota. Six months later he sent her money so she could join him, and she came to Bogota together with her two children. She had just finished school, and her dream was to study medicine. In Merida, her husband had a motorcycle workshop. In Bogota, he found a job working in a fruit shop at the market. But with the virus, he lost his job. And now, he's out on the street looking for trash to sell for recycling. Due to the pandemic the schools are closed, and Kendry stays home with her two children. ![NRC is giving financial support to Venezuelan refugees and migrants. It is the first time Kendry has received any help in three years. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/049_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) ### Supporting vulnerable families In the face of such adverse conditions, some Venezuelans have decided to return home as their livelihoods have dried up abroad. As of 30 June 2020, more than 80,000 had returned from different parts of Latin America. [Some of them walking long distances by foot.](https://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2020/the-long-walk-home) “We are doing what we can to support and protect Venezuelan refugees and migrants. In Colombia we are providing cash to vulnerable families and to host communities,” says Dominika Arseniuk, Country Director with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Colombia. ![A group of Venezuelans participates in a workshop on Covid-19 organised by NRC. They will receive financial assistance spread over six months, to cope with the reduction of their income due to lockdown. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/045_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) NRC is giving financial support to Venezuelan refugees and migrants over a period of six months. We are also providing workshops to help them cope with the trauma and stress that many of them are experiencing. ![“It is hard to come from a place where you are loved and cherished, to a place where you are humiliated, discriminated against and looked down upon,” says Kendry. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/052_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) ### Humiliated and discriminated against Kendry can’t work, and this is the first time she has received any help in three years. The other day she started crying because she wanted to leave. She called her mother in Venezuela and told her she wanted to go back, but her mother answered: “No! Don't come. Look at the problems. Think of the children.” When asked what she would say to the world about her life as a refugee, Kendry answers: “It is hard. It is both sad and humiliating. Since I have been in Bogota, there are people who insult you. They insult you for just being Venezuelan. It is hard to come from a place where you are loved and cherished, to a place where you are humiliated, discriminated against and looked down upon.” Arseniuk explains: “The biggest factor that makes Venezuelan refugees particularly vulnerable is that they often do not have regular legal status in their host countries. This means they have limited access to formal employment, reliable shelter, or public health services.” ![Angie Carolina Burgosa, 33, has been in Colombia for four years. Now she is living in a slum called “Paraiso” (Paradise), with four of her daughters. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/056_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) ### Living in the slum Angie Carolina Burgosa, 33, has been in Colombia for four years. She has ten children. In Venezuela, the situation had become hard for her family. Food shortages began to affect her children to the point that they lost weight, and they were dehydrated. Angie stayed on the street for a while. But the social services took two of her kids away from her. Now she is living in a slum called “Paraiso” (“Heaven”), with four of her daughters. Her oldest daughter is 16 and already mother of a two-year-old child. ![Lisbeth Chiquinquira, 53. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/063_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) ### Selling coffee on the street Lisbeth Chiquinquira, 53, is a mother of seven and is originally from Maracaibo in Venezuela. "Here I am working selling coffee on the street. Thank God, I did very well last year, but after the pandemic I have not been able to work. I go out with my thermos, but people are afraid of the virus and do not buy anything,” she says. ![Lisbeth Chiquinquira, 53, is receiving a cash grant in the form of a card given to her by an NRC staff member. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/064_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) One of her sons stayed behind in Venezuela, where the family has a small house. “I keep telling him that he should not come here. Yesterday he called me and said: ‘Mommy, I want to leave’. But no. The situation is very difficult. Just to get him over the border they are charging USD 100. And right now he might not be able to cross the border at all.” ![Javier David Mendez Salcedo, 28, tries to make a living selling candy on the busses. Photo: Nadège Mazars/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/coronavirus/venezuelean-voices/060_mazars_venez_migrants_col.jpg) ### Selling candy on busses "After the pandemic everything has changed. I am not really selling anything,” says Javier David Mendez Salcedo, 28, who tries to make a living selling candy on the busses. He is living downtown Bogota with his wife and two kids. He rents a small room, with a shared bathroom and kitchen, which they must pay for every day. He brings in 14,000 pesos every afternoon, a little under USD 4. Back home in Venezuela, Javier was a technician working with alarms and security cameras. > Since the virus hit, I do not even have money for soap to wash our hands, and If I am lucky, I am able to give my children one meal a day. > > Javier David Mendez Salcedo, 28 “When I lost my job, we came here searching for a living and a better future. In the beginning we managed to pay rent and food. Since the virus hit, I do not even have money for soap to wash our hands, and If I am lucky, I am able to give my children one meal a day.” Javier says that the worst thing is the xenophobia. “Here a Venezuelan is a thief to everyone. Six days ago, I was arrested … and held in captivity for 72 hours. The children were starving.” [Read more about Venezuela and neglected crises](https://www.nrc.no/shorthand/fr/the-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises-in-2019/index.html)