Reports

Colleagues,

Attached you will find a Spanish and English version of a short report from TodoSomos — a small NGO that has been collecting hand written testimonies from refugees/caminantes near the border with Venezuela. It is a summary of the stories and lives of more than 150 that have recently passed through Donjuana refugio (May to July of 2021). This sampling and analysis we believe reflects the experience and challenges faced by the more than 10,000 that passed this way in this period. We have included in this report a section with the most striking phrase from each testimony. Completing this work leaves one with an understanding of the experience, the challenge, and hope for the future. It also leaves one with the hope that the global community will find a way to address the underlying reasons behind this crisis — 2 million Venezuelans displaced and living in Colombia and more than 6 million in the global diaspora.

I would offer a special thanks to all of those that have made this work possible — those working day to day in Donjuana and the other points of service and assistance throughout South America and to our team of volunteers who have put in their time and hearts to listen, write, transcribe, translate and edit. A special thanks for our chief editor Antonio José Díez Jiménez.

Douglas Lyon MD
Board President TodoSomos