Flor

Flor is a woman of Wayúu origin, from the Venezuelan side, she is 45 years old, a wife and a mother of ten children and grandmother of three. Her husband works as a motorcycle taxi driver and she takes care of her family, but she also plays an important role as a community leader.

At 36 degrees Celsius, with a thermal sensation of 42 degrees, which can sometimes be higher rates, Uribia, in La Guajira. It is known as the indigenous capital of Colombia, since a good part of its population belongs to the Wayúu people.

In this municipality there is a neighborhood that is home to 1,700 families, of which 70% of the population are migrants and returnees from Venezuela and 30% are hosts.

It is the 3 de abril Community, located between the peripheral limits of the urban perimeter of the municipality; it is an indigenous settlement.

Uribia, and in general the department of La Guajira, is one of the main recipients of the migrant and refugee population from Venezuela. This as a result of the shared border between the two countries; border that is known as La Raya and is located in Paraguachón. To which are added the irregular trails along that shared geographical space.

Some families only go through La Guajira to go to their destinations: main cities in Colombia or countries such as: Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, among others. Others stay for a while, try their luck or wait for the call of a relative to help them from another city or country. And other families decide to stay there, in one of the municipalities of La Guajira, to build their life from scratch in that territory.

Those families that decide to stay in Uribia also do so out of roots in their territory, to which the Wayúu territory has always belonged to them and their families. It is what they know, it is their space in the world, it is their tradition and their life.

Even if that means facing difficult situations such as lack of access to drinking water, food security, access to health and education, security, job or entrepreneurship opportunities, and much more.

Flor lived with her entire family in Venezuela, but the situation was tougher and stronger than her ability to fight. “I moved (from Venezuela to Colombia) because we really didn’t have a way to survive there, because everything became too expensive and you couldn’t find a job, you couldn’t get it to buy our food. We all had to eat a little book of rice for twelve people. So what did we do to get that, we had to make a soup, without oil and without anything we had to eat, because in truth we didn’t even have seasoning or anything to add to it,” says Flor about the reason that led her to and her family to migrate to Colombia.

“I came here more than anything for my baby, because she gave me chronic malnutrition, she almost died, and I said -I don’t have to let my daughter die there and I had to get here.”

She speaks slowly and still sadly, despite the fact that five years have passed since then. Coming to Colombia was the best decision for her, her family and her little daughter who was chronically malnourished. Upon her arrival in Uribia, she found an official from the Colombian Family Welfare Institute who helped her so that her little daughter was cared for by health professionals and received the necessary attention and treatment to overcome malnutrition. “My daughter, thank God, is as old as hers today and she is alive”, she says with great satisfaction.

He also found help to settle in a space in that immense Uribia desert, in the settlement of the 3 de Abril Community. pm.

She learned about the JF-CPiE through Integral Spaces. Her family immediately joined the meetings, sociocultural participation initiatives, family strengthening workshops, and capacity building for community leaders. Learning especially about children’s rights, recognizing themselves as subjects of rights, identifying risk factors, care and care of others, where to go in case of risk, and other key issues that promote their protection and the guarantee of their rights. “My children have learned how to be affectionate with people. They have learned from things that, in our Wayúu law, they say that man cannot do anything because he is a man, and they have learned that men can wash away gossip, they can sweep, they can do everything”, says Flor about the impact from her participation in the project. And she continues: “now they respect you, they treat you with love, they are more participants, they are no longer like other children who don’t participate because they feel sorry, but they don’t, they participate. An example, they are asked a question, they answer. But not before, before they looked at each other, but not now, they have learned many things. They even already know how to dance, ”she says with a smile.

She says that she learned to weave “from the project I have learned weaving, which I did not know before, and they taught me that we have to learn to weave to survive, to support ourselves when there is no work for our husband, from there we can sell that.” She also learned about sharing with others, helping the community, participating and resolving conflicts in a peaceful way “we don’t solve anything by fighting, we have to get there, we talk, we have a conclusion and we understand each other there; shouting we never solve anything. Thanks to Aldeas, we have already learned how we have to talk, not come up with insults”, says Flor.

And another of the great impacts of the project in her life is having strengthened himself as a leader in her community. She began by organizing deliveries that a foundation made on occasion, from then on she understood the dynamics of leading and has grown stronger every day, until she became recognized and respected by her neighbors.

What interests you most as leaders is the well-being of each family in the April 3 Community. These leaderships are precisely strengthened through the project, to leave installed capacity in the community in favor of the protection of children. We work with them on leadership, communication, children’s rights, prevention of gender-based violence, risk situations, prevention, care routes, among others. Through the Community Child Protection Teams -ECPI-, the local protection council and community agents.

“What I liked the most about the project is that participating in the dances that they do (boys, girls and adolescents), my children have learned things about gender”. And the theme of thinking about the common good is something that stands out, something that inspires her and that she transmits to her children, providing help and support to others whenever possible. And to break paradigms about the role of women and men, and to reject the mistreatment of women and girls.

Today the participating families of the Community of April 3 have been strengthened as a protective environment for children, they recognize the importance of caring for and guaranteeing their rights, they identify the risk factors in their neighborhood and they know what to do in case of a risk of lack of protection.

As well as how to relate within the family, on topics such as: communication, respect, affection, good treatment and protection. Mutual support and support between families.

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*Not her real name.