“Venezuela, a country full of riches, with beautiful landscapes, impressive places; it changed out of nowhere. We only see how every day our country collapses like rain from heaven, Venezuelans cry to see how our country is ending. Only God, our Lord, knows when everything I know is going to stop is living in Venezuela. I had to migrate, leave, leave a mother, brothers, a family. It’s hard go out and seek a better life for our children, running the risk of losing them along the way. Mourn sadness, feeling nostalgic for the great process that Venezuelans go through when entering a place totally unknown, face danger, the scams of many people, lies, mockery; some humiliate us because we are foreigners.”

"...I am 17 years old. I am traveling with God... Along the way I have grown much as a human being... Never in my life had I exercised as much as in these last days; exhaustion has been the least of it… So many good people, many impressive places and a whole lot of attitude…."

Young man writes in refugio Chirimoya. Pamplona, Colombia. April 2019.      

“….I am a nurse. Last night I slept in the street for the first time in my life, this, with my daughter and my sister. I don’t want my daughter here, in this. I don’t want to have to beg on the transmilenio”

Venezuelan in the transmilenio metro station in Bogotá, April 2019

“My name is María. I’m 22 years old and traveling with my nearly 2-year-old daughter. After two years of abuse from my partner, I said to myself: ‘I am not small. I am a woman. I am young. I can.’

We walked more than 28 hours without food. I feared being separated from my daughter. I’ve endured physical, verbal, and psychological abuse, but I am moving forward in the name of God.”

Young mother writing from a shelter. October 2020.

“Where has migration taken me? At 16, I left school and started working in coca extraction. It’s not work. It destroys people. I’ve endured humiliation and depression. But now, I will fight for my daughters and a better future.

There are good people and bad, but I choose to believe in life and in God.”

Teenager from Pacelly, North Santander.

“I crossed through the trocha with two friends. They took all our money. We were harassed by the Guajiros, who threatened to kill us. I gave them my curling iron and my clothes.”

Venezuelan sex worker, writing in Santa Fé, Bogotá. April 2019.

“I would like to have a stable job and not rely on begging on the bus. Believe me, it is not easy when people judge you for not having their nationality or for simply being different.”

Young woman on a bus with her younger sister, Bogotá. May 2019.