In Colombia, ADRA Continues Assisting Thousands of Venezuelan Migrants

August 9, 2021 | Medellin, Colombia | Daniela Arrieta with Elva Gómez and IAD News Staff

“It was very hard to leave my family and my life in Venezuela, but the economic situation there was too difficult,” said Ana Cecilia Alvarado, a Venezuelan migrant who recently arrived in Colombia in search of a better life. “I was very sick, so I decided to travel to Colombia with my grandson. The journey was very difficult, and to board a bus you had to jump and push and be next to people who were hitting and stealing, it was horrible.”

There are thousands of Venezuelans like Alvarado who have migrated to Colombia because of the economic and political situation. Many in Venezuela have no safe place to live and no money to buy food or get health care.

According to national government statistics, as of Jan. 31, 2021, 1,742,927 Venezuelan migrants are living in Colombia, of which 54 percent are in living irregular conditions.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Colombia and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have partnered since 2018 to offer services to migrant families. Its latest partnership project, coined as SHAWA (Actividades Optimizas de Salud y Wash—Optimized Health and Wash Activities) for migrants in Colombia, has been offering primary health services in the city of Medellin, in Antioquia and Bucaramanga, in Santander, since May.

“We are thankful to God because we have been able to assist so many in these two departments through justice, love and compassion which we profess in ADRA Colombia,” said Jair Flórez, ADRA Colombia director. “We are delighted to be part of those being benefitted, taking hope to those, who for different reasons today, have no health coverage. Thanks to this project they can get a medical consult, basic laboratory tests and medicines.”

So far, more than 114,532 persons have benefitted from the ADRA Colombia and USAID  partnership through health services, water and hygiene kits as well as with settlements throughout the country.

The SHAWA project, which is the third phase of the ongoing partnership, consists of two mobile units which are equipped with a generator, a medical office, space for medicines, a restroom, a lift for those with disabilities, and wheelchairs provided by the ministry of transportation.

Like Alvarado, hundreds of Venezuelans have benefitted from the program with medical attention, medicines, laboratory test authorizations and training on sexual and reproductive health, among others.

“When I got to Medellin, my condition worsened and a friend told me about ADRA when I had lost all hope,” explained Alvarado. “ADRA gave me hope to live and, thanks to their attention and treatment, my health has been improving and right now my disease is being controlled,” she said. She is one of 69,700 people who have benefitted from the SHAWA project since it began in May.

ADRA Colombia has been committed to programs that assist Venezuelan migrants since many began their journey throughout Latin American countries but especially in Colombia with the highest number coming in, said Sandra Rincón, program director for ADRA Colombia.

“We have been constantly carrying out needs assessments since 2018 to better understand the social emergency situation in the country and have worked on helping the vulnerable as they enter the country,” explained Rincón.

During a visit to one of the mobile units, German Marín, health director of the Ministry of Health in the Santander Government Office, congratulated ADRA Colombia for its ongoing project to assist those more vulnerable. “We see that the medical staff and leaders working with the SHAWA project are very committed and we want to extend our appreciation for this group for the work they are doing in Barancabermeja” Marín said.

ADRA Colombia leaders said that the project will continue for months.

To learn more about ADRA Colombia and its projects, visit adracolombia.org