An active member in her community, Carolina makes a home in Colombia.
In 2018, food scarcity amidst Venezuela’s economic crisis impelled Carolina to travel to Colombia. Leaving her two young children under the care of her mother and husband, Carolina arrived in Medellín with no friends or family—only hope and determination. Selling candies at stoplights, she and her husband José, who joined her four months later, diligently saved enough money to reunite the family. Although their own family was established, food scarcity persisted for others in Colombia and Carolina decided to address the issue in her community head-on.
After months of watching her children go to sleep hungry, 25-year-old Carolina decided to leave Venezuela in 2018. In the face of food scarcity, sparked by the country’s severe economic crisis, not even her stable income as a manager at a perfume store could mitigate the national lack of resources. “Leaving my children felt like taking a dagger to the heart,” Carolina painfully recalled, as her children were merely four and six years old. Leaving her children under the care of her husband, José, and her mother, Carolina borrowed funds to purchase a bus ticket to Medellín where she had been told that Colombians welcomed Venezuelan migrants.
Loud, blunt, and with strawberry-blond hair, Carolina exudes vigor and determination. “People who decide to immigrate have a lot of guts,” Carolina declared, as she rocked her one-year-old son in her arms. “My arrival in Medellín was difficult. I used to cry just thinking about it, but I have made the best of living here. There are more opportunities here than in Venezuela.”
When the bus dropped her off in downtown Medellín, Carolina began to walk, unsure of where to go. She stumbled upon the famously exaggerated sculptures of Fernando Botero in one of the city’s central plazas and she located a housing complex nearby renting unfurnished rooms for $2.90 USD a night. The next morning, after a poor night’s sleep on the hard tile floor, Carolina used half of her remaining $20 USD to purchase candies to sell at stoplights downtown. “I prayed to God for an opportunity,” Carolina said, hoping to finance her children’s trip to Colombia as quickly as possible.
In April 2018, four months after her arrival, José joined Carolina in Medellín while the children remained under the care of Carolina’s mother in Venezuela. Together, the couple was able to earn better profits selling candies. They strategically positioned themselves at high-traffic stoplights just outside the downtown district where there were fewer vendors competing for sales. Daily, the couple earned $15 USD. Other than purchasing food for themselves and paying the daily rent for their room, Carolina and José diligently sent all funds back to Venezuela to fund their children’s journey to Medellín.
After three months, in order to save even more on rent—which cost $91 USD monthly—the couple decided to move into an apartment with another family. They would pay only $37 USD per month in rent, $54 USD less than before. At last, their daily earnings amounted to enough for Carolina and José to pay a family friend to bring their children to them. On October 1, 2018, the family was reunited.
A month after the children arrived, Carolina and José moved the family into a more spacious apartment located on the hillsides surrounding Medellín, where they still live today. Rent is $73 USD monthly, plus $15 USD in utilities. The family’s move was facilitated by José’s new job. He began working as a handyman and jack-of-all-trades with another Venezuelan. Each morning the two men would set off early, lurching through the rutted streets in a pickup to repair roofs, broken water pipes, windows, and the like. José earned at least $5 USD daily, although most weeks he would earn much more in total—$49–73 USD—when he and his partner split all profits.
In the meantime, Carolina gave up street sales and dedicated herself to her own children as well as those of the community. After ensuring that her two children were enrolled at the local school, she applied for the Permission for Temporary Protection (PPT) for each family member, which she knew would allow them to access Colombia’s national healthcare system. Shortly after moving to their new home, Carolina’s four-year-old daughter came down with the flu and the family had to borrow money from a loan shark to cover medical expenses. The $24 USD loan, which carried an interest rate of 30 percent, was difficult to pay back. José was just starting his new job and rent for the family’s new apartment took priority.
Credit from the local corner store, however, permitted Carolina to secure food for the family during their transition. Each week, the shopkeeper allowed her to buy $7 USD worth of food and goods on credit, which Carolina said she tried to pay back by the end of each week as she wanted to avoid the stress of carrying debt.
In late 2019, after nearly a year of living in the hillsides of Medellín, Carolina recognized the omnipresent reality of food insecurity in her community. This issue was soon compounded manyfold by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tragedy that had impelled her to leave Venezuela proved to be hard to escape. With her family nascently established, she decided to tackle hunger head-on and started an organization called Women Uniting Nations (Mujeres Uniendo Naciones) whose goal was to eliminate food insecurity for children in her community.
Today, twice a week the organization provides lunch and dinner for 80 children—40 Venezuelan and 40 Colombian. “The entire organization is based on donations,” Carolina said proudly. Thanks to a sizable donation from a Swiss businessman that Carolina met in downtown Medellín, the organization has their headquarters near Carolina’s house and is equipped with a foodbank and dining space for the twice-weekly meals. “My dream is to feed as many children as possible,” Carolina reflected. “I want to grow the organization so that it can serve as a full-time foodbank for families who, like mine, couldn’t manage to secure food for their children.”
As an active member of her community, Carolina also participates in multiple programs offered by the humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. Each month she attends workshops on diverse topics ranging from entrepreneurship to community safety and family planning. Additionally, she is a member of a local savings group. Every Saturday, a collection of primarily Venezuelan women meets at her house to deposit funds into a large wooden box, which serves as their savings account. Equipped with three locks, all women must be present to open the box, as the keys are distributed amongst the group. “This ensures transparency and accountability,” Carolina said. The group keeps meticulous records of who has deposited, how much, and when, so that each participant can recoup their deposits when needed. Members are encouraged to withdraw funds only in the case of a financial emergency.
For her part, Carolina tries to save $37–49 USD weekly—the entirety of her family’s weekly earnings outside of what is spent on food, necessities, and $12 USD in remittances, which she sends to her mother in Venezuela monthly.
In June 2021, José and Carolina welcomed their third child into their family—a girl, who as a Colombian citizen benefits from the free daycare and health services provided by the government. The rest of her family, despite Carolina’s diligence in managing their applications for residency permits, are still waiting to receive the PPT. Still, José and Carolina are confident that they will soon receive the documentation, which they hope will open future opportunities for their children, such as attending university or securing formal employment. “Venezuela will always be my home,” Carolina said, “but Colombia has also come to feel like a home.”