Love Thy Neighbor

Since 2010, the Venezuelan people have been enduring a crisis. The economy collapsed, and nearly every essential service now fails on a daily basis. Neighboring Colombia is dealing with the crisis in a variety of ways. In the best cases, they are providing aid with the help of aid organizations like USAID and UNICEF.

I traveled to the border city of Cúcuta to see how a local hospital was dealing with the daily flood of people over the bridge from Venezuela. The most common needs besides food, clothing, and shelter were medical. Due to the lack of power, space heaters and gas-powered portable stoves were now ubiquitous, leading to many burns and fires. But beyond injuries, there were droves of pregnant women with no reliable health services in their own country.

They would cross the bridge, sometimes alone, sometimes with small children, and head to Erasmo Meoz University Hospital for checkups, and to give birth. Witnessing the medical professionals administering aid to their neighbors from over the border was the kind of experience that gives one hope.

See my video on the project below.