Reporting
Motherhood in Migration
Scores of pregnant Venezuelan women are seeking refuge in bordering Colombia.

Oct. 21, 2019| Maicao, Colombia| A Venezuelan mother holds her sleeping child as she lines up in Maicao’s old hospital hoping to join the waiting list to be sheltered at UNHCR’s camps in the outskirts of the city. © Erika Piñeros
The continued crisis in Venezuela – where some 90% of the population is now believed to live in poverty – has created a mass exodus. More than 4 million have left in recent years, a third of them, some 1.4 million, are living in Colombia.

Oct. 19, 2019| Riohacha, Colombia |Mothers tend to their children in a paediatric ward at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios hospital in the city of Riohacha. Hospital staff noted how most children receiving treatment for pneumonia and other respiratory problems are now from Venezuela. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 19, 2019 | Riohacha, Colombia | Jeisy Biliana, a new-born delivered via caesarean at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios hospital, is taken to the maternity ward while her mother, Olga Gonzalez, recovers. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if we were still in Venezuela”, says Olga. “There we have to buy everything: needles, medicine, even the gloves!” Olga was in labour for 24 hours at the hospital under close monitoring before Dr. Jorge Barreto ordered the C-section. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 21, 2019 | Maicao, Colombia | Venezuelan migrants and Colombian returnees line up at a community kitchen in Maicao. It is estimated that over 60,000 Venezuelan migrants live along 170,000 Colombians in this border town. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 21, 2019 | Riohacha, Colombia | Ony Arrieta, 21, holds her youngest son Samuel in front of their makeshift house on the outskirts of Riohacha where she found a place to live after having to sleep on the street along with her two boys. Samuel, eight months-old, was hospitalised with bronchitis for more than week at the local public hospital, while Sebastián, now two years old, still bears the effects of the meningitis he caught as a new-born. “I decided to leave Venezuela again because what if my kids fall ill again? There’s no health care for them there”, explains Ony. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 20, 2019 | Maicao, Colombia | A view of Maicao, the closest major Colombian town near the border with Venezuela. It is estimated that over 60,000 Venezuelan migrants live along 170,000 Colombians in this border town. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 19, 2019 | Riohacha, Colombia| The entrance of the emergency room at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios hospital in Riohacha. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 19, 2019| Riohacha, Colombia | Olga Gonzalez, a 17 year-old Venezuelan is monitored by a nurse minutes before delivering her baby via caesarean at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios hospital in the city of Riohacha. Doctors at the hospital estimate that of ten new-borns delivered at this hospital every day, 8 are Venezuelans. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 19, 2019 | Riohacha, Colombia |Doctor Lácides Moscote checks on a patient during his day off at Nuestra Señora de los Remedios hospital in Riohacha where he has worked for decades. Dr. Moscote explains that the hospital has seen a steep increase in demand for health care services from Venezuelan migrants over the past couple of years. “Out of 10 women giving birth at the hospital every day, at least 7 would be Venezuelan”, he says. Later on that day, Dr. Moscote counted the patients that day: out of 16, 13 were Venezuelan mothers and their new-borns. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 19, 2019 | Riohacha, Colombia | A hospital staff takes a Venezuelan mother and her new-born to the observation unit where they will spend between 12 and 24 hours under close monitoring. © Erika Piñeros

Oct. 22, 2019| Riohacha, Colombia | Olga Gonzalez, 17, breastfeeds her new-born baby girl at their home in Riohacha where her and her partner share a room with her mother in law and two sisters in law. In the background, a poster with a photo of her brother in law hangs as a reminder of his death. “He sacrificed himself for us”, says Jesús explaining that after his brother got in trouble with a gang, the whole family was threatened. His brother’s body along another two were found with signs of torture. “It’s everyone against everyone”, says Jesús. Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the region with increasing crime rates. © Erika Piñeros
This story was reported thanks to a grant from the International Women’s Media Foundation.