03:37 PM
“Can I tell you a story?”: That was the first thing Elianis said when he saw two journalists march past, with cameras and microphones on their shoulders, along the beaches of Necoclí, in Urabá, Antioquia.
It was 5:30 in the afternoon and the volleyball match, which she was playing with her friends, was suspended while she attended the media. The girl is 8 years old and does not remember the day she had to leave her house in Venezuela.
Before turning on the recorder, he introduced his faithful companion: a pink elephant, who still has no name, but who has accompanied her on all her walks. It’s her favorite toy the only one he could carry. That’s why he demanded the company of the stuffed animal.
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Elianis is one of the 7.1 million people who have migrated from Venezuela until February this year, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Elianis cheeks flaked the burns that the sun has left on his skin. Her shoes had a couple of holes. They are the evidence of the trips on foot, by tractor-trailer and by bus that he has undertaken for 1,365 kilometers from his home in Táchira to Necocli.
He arrived at the beach on February 27 and every day study science, math and read stories in a tent, which serves as a school, set up by the Red Cross.
“What story do you want to tell?”
—There was a very happy family in the world until a witch lady came and ruined their lives. The witch said that the clothes had to be packed in a suitcase and the father had to leave the house first because she said “I don’t want to see that family here anymore.”
The parents’ hearts were separated in several countries. They had a princess daughter, who at first she cried because the family had a spell.
The girl grew and grew and walked and walked. She wore some very nice shirts. She was called Rapunzel and she was respectful of people. She wants to be queen and reunite your family.
“Who told you that story?”
“My dad told me.
Rapunzel’s adventures, told by Elianis’s parents, are a series of stories that are narrated, every night, to the girl and her little brother Jeremiah before going to sleep. It is the children’s version of the migration drama.
-You go to school?
Now I study here. Before I was in fourth and now I went to second.
Do you remember your companions?
-Yeah. Their names are Antonella, Sofía, Adelay and another was called Jeremiah as my brother. They were my companions But now I’m on this adventure.
What do you think of this adventure?
-Always I have loved the adventure.
-You have enjoyed?
-Yeah. I liked watching the sunsets from the truck and now I have gone to the beach to enjoy. I have seen a lot of nature.
-What do not you like?
—I think they haven’t taken care of nature, if they don’t take care of it it can be dirty. Today I was bathing in the sea and I saw some rubbish and a broken tube. You have to take care of nature.
—What do you miss about your home?
—I miss all my family and my grandmother who is in Chile. She lives far away and the road is very long to reach her. I also left some toys like barbies, glasses, ponies and a cook house. But I brought my elephant that I love very much.
“What are you worried about?”
-What I don’t have boots for the jungle because we are going to the jungle. But you have to keep going until feet take me away from here.
Before launching the next question, Elianis interrupted the interview unilaterally. She went running because her parents lthey had called to eat.
Elianis, his father, his mother and his brother reached the beaches of Necoclí. That will be their home while they collect the 300,000 that each ticket costs to go to Capurganá (Chocó), an obligatory step for migrants who dare to cross the 5,000 square kilometers of thick jungle in the Darién. His hopes are to reach Panama and thus continue the trip to the United States.
Unicef warned that more than 9,700 children and adolescents crossed the Darién jungle in January and February 2023.