{"id":31756,"date":"2024-02-15T21:20:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T21:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adra.org\/?p=31756"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:28:55","slug":"bucaramanga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/bucaramanga","title":{"rendered":"Bucaramanga?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By James Standish<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBucaramanga?\u201d, my friend Mike chuckles1<\/sup>, \u201cnope, never heard of it \u2013 but I\u2019m amused to learn that a place called Boo\u00b7kaa\u00b7ruh\u00b7maang\u00b7guh even exists!\u201d Mike sounds it out one syllable at a time as we\u2019re sitting in a bagel shop in midtown Manhattan, not too far from the investment bank where Mike works. \u201cIt\u2019s in Colombia, near the border with Venezuela, I went to meet Venezuelan migrants coming into Colombia,\u201d I continue. \u201cYou want to meet Venezuelan migrants?\u201d Mike shoots back, \u201cyou could have just come to New York City!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s right. New York City, Texas, California, Florida, even Washington, DC, are struggling under the weight of resettling migrants \u2013 many of them from Venezuela. \u201cI didn\u2019t go to Bucaramanga simply to meet migrants, Mike, I went to understand what is driving them and what their needs are – and what I learned changes everything…\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo on,\u201d Mike says. He\u2019s a smart guy \u2013 smart enough to know what he doesn\u2019t know. And when it comes to the Venezuelan migrant crisis, his knowledge is like most of us: He knows they\u2019re here. And he knows he wants something done about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst thing you\u2019ve got to know is why they\u2019re leaving home,\u201d I start. \u201cBecause until you know why something is going on, you can\u2019t know what do about it.\u201d \u201cRight,\u201d says Mike, \u201cthat\u2019s problem solving 101.\u201d I nod in agreement and continue. \u201cThey\u2019re leaving because the Venezuelan economy is in free fall, to the point that millions of people are undernourished,\u201d I explain. \u201cWell, that\u2019s their government\u2019s responsibility,\u201d Mike shrugs his shoulders. \u201cWhatever the cause, and no matter whose responsibility, that\u2019s the reality,\u201d I continue. \u201cAnd when you\u2019re hungry, you have two choices. Stay in a place where you\u2019re hungry or move on. What would you do, Mike?\u201d Mike laughs, he sees where this is going, \u201cyeah, yeah, yeah, I\u2019d move on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADRA\u2019s mobile health team provides care to Venezuelan refugees and migrants, including a pregnant mother who arrived in Colombia on foot.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMainly Venezuelans are going to neighboring countries like Colombia. And it\u2019s not a thousand here or there \u2013 it\u2019s between 6 and 7 million Venezuelans. Most of them have resettled in South America, some in Central America, and increasingly, some are coming to the US. I met Venezuelans walking into Colombia on the trail. I\u2019ll tell you Mike, they were the thinnest people I\u2019ve ever seen. It was shocking. And it\u2019s all kinds of people – kids, women, men, I even met a woman who is four months pregnant. Everyone I talked with had the same story. They didn\u2019t want to leave their homes, families, everything. But hunger drove them out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMakes sense,\u201d says Mike, \u201cbut why are they coming to the US? It\u2019s, what, 2,000 miles from Venezuela to the US!\u201d \u201cYeah, something like that,\u201d I reply. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I wanted to know \u2013 so you know me, Mike, I asked everyone I met… and to get the answer I didn\u2019t just ask people on the trail, I went to the places Venezuelans have settled in Colombia, and I also asked Colombians. I wanted to get the full picture. They all gave me the same answer – countries like Colombia welcomed the first refugees. But as time has gone on, and as more have arrived, things have gotten stressed. There are not enough places in schools, not enough housing, not enough healthcare, not enough food programs, and most of all, not enough jobs to go around. So, if you arrive and try to settle in Colombia, you\u2019re going to find yourself in a similar mess to what you left. Unless…\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless what?\u201d Mike raises an eyebrow as he looks over at me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless someone gives you a helping hand.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, ok, here comes the bleeding heart ADRA stuff,\u201d Mike lets out a snort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, if people are successfully resettled in the surrounding region to Venezuela, they stay, Mike, so if you want to deal with the migrant crisis in New York, you might want to listen up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike nods, with his irritating smirk still on his face \u2013 we\u2019re friends, he likes to get a rise out of me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe keys to successful resettlement include access to healthcare \u2013 not just because everyone needs healthcare, but because in Colombia kids must have health insurance before they can enroll in school. So, healthcare is a key to both health and education. And people need to eat. So that\u2019s where ADRA focuses. Partnering with the Adventist clinic in Bucaramanga, ADRA provides health insurance to Venezuelans settled around Bucaramanga. And ADRA provides monthly food vouchers they can use to buy groceries until they find employment and can care for themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf ADRA is doing such a great job,\u201d Mike probes, \u201cwhy are the hotels in New York City overflowing with migrants?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s math,\u201d I reply. \u201cADRA can only provide what it has. And the Venezuelan refugee crisis is ridiculously underfunded. So, ADRA does what it can do with what it has. But it’s stretched thin. Remember ADRA is helping to resettle Ukrainian refugees in Europe, Sudanese refugees in Africa, and Rohingya refugees in Asia – and it\u2019s working in many other places where regular people have been forced to flee their homes. If ADRA has more, it does more. And the more it does, the more people can remain in their regions. Which everyone I talked with wants. I mean, think about it. You think people are trekking 2,000 miles, paying smugglers all their meager savings, being ripped off, raped, abused and hated all the way because they want to? People aren\u2019t crazy, Mike. Give them a chance at a life in their region and they take it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, go ahead, make the ask,\u201d Mike knows what\u2019s coming. \u201cVery simple, Mike, you want to do something about the migrants coming to New York? Then pony up some cash to help resettle people in Bucaramanga and support broader US efforts to resettle people in Colombia. Because if life is intolerable in the region, they will keep coming \u2013 if not over land, then in tunnels, if not tunnels, then by sea, if not by sea, then by air. When people are desperate, they do what they have to do, Mike, and so would you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, give people a life in their region, and they stay there?\u201d Mike ponders out loud. \u201cAnd ADRA\u2019s giving them a life there.\u201d \u201cYeah, Mike, that\u2019s the nub of it. And ADRA wants to give more people a life there so they can thrive without risking everything to come to New York City, only to have investment bankers like you looking down your noses at them.\u201d Mikes\u2019 a good guy, He knows I\u2019m just giving him a hard time. Hey, what are friends for? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Mom and baby rest at one of ADRA’s meal stations for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dozens of Venezuelan families line up outside El Eden Adventist Church in Colombia for hot meals provided by ADRA church volunteers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ADRA staff and Adventist church volunteers prepare hot meals for Venezuelan migrants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Venezuelan migrant family eats a hot lunch prepared by ADRA workers and Adventist Church volunteers.
(Photo Credit: Tim Wolfer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. This article is a composite of conversations with ADRA’s Government Relations Consultant James Standish and friends after returning from Bucaramanga, Colombia.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    FAQs on Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced People (IDPs)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cBucaramanga?\u201d, my friend Mike chuckles1, \u201cnope, never heard of it \u2013 but I\u2019m amused to learn that a place called Boo\u00b7kaa\u00b7ruh\u00b7maang\u00b7guh even exists!\u201d <\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":"[]"},"categories":[615,806,594,619,284,782,798],"tags":[514],"class_list":["post-31756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-colombia","category-education","category-featured-blog-room","category-health","category-south-america","category-venezuela","tag-migration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31756"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45114,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31756\/revisions\/45114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}