Refugees: Starting over in another country at 71 years old

Gladis Coromoto Cahuao Rujano is from Venezuela, has five daughters and ten grandchildren, and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Until he arrived in Argentina, in December 2022, he lived with one of his daughters and two of his granddaughters in Punto Fijo, Falcón State, located approximately 530 kilometers from Caracas by road.

Their other four daughters had settled in Buenos Aires long before, and seeing that their mother was suffering from a situation of economic precariousness, lack of access to energy and drinking water, they convinced her that, as thousands of Venezuelans did, moved to the southernmost country on the continent.

“At the age I am, I had not thought that I could rebuild my life, do as many things as everything I have done since I arrived in this country.. I have taken advantage of all the opportunities that different civil society organizations have given me, the work they do to collaborate is admirable. Since my arrival I have felt that the Argentine population has integrated me with great affection,” Gladis enthusiastically assures UN News.

Among the organizations that Gladis mentions is SJM (Jesuit Migrant Service) based in the Regina Martyrum Parish of the City of Buenos Aires, and the MIRARES Foundation (Migrants, Refugees and Argentine Social Entrepreneurs), which works jointly with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Magic or Velcro closure

It was in that parish, and at the suggestion of one of her granddaughters, that Gladis approached take a sewing coursewithout knowing that this initiative would later become his source of work and his great satisfaction at the same time.

“I sewed in my country, but only some clothes for the family, never more than that, and in Argentina I was able to perfect myself, I was interested in learning the names of the fabrics, which are different from those we use in Venezuela. For example, in my country we call magic closure to the material that in Argentina they call velcro.. So I signed up for different courses, but I didn’t have a sewing machine. A neighbor lent me one of hers, because I had to leave mine in Venezuela. Another alternative was when I went to classes, I took advantage of the machines they provided us there.”

UN aid

Gladis’s story changed completely when in July 2023 the MIRARES Foundation, with funds from UNHCR, granted her seed capital with which he was able to buy his own sewing machine and thus start working, recommended by her own teachers, for several clients.

“I am so grateful, so happy because the truth is I feel useful, I was not looking for work because my daughters did not want me to work because of my illness, but it is an activity that I can do, that I enjoy, I never imagined that they could help me to access to my machine. Today I managed to have a waiting list of orders, and they even invited me to offer training to people who did not know how to sew, and that, in the future, learning to do it can also help them have a job,” she says.

Gladis said that she works all day, including weekends, her goal is to save money to launch her personal business: would like to make and sell work clothes for medical professionals and teachers.

It should be noted that UNHCR also helped Gladis through a cash assistance program, and she herself expressed gratitude for having been supported in times of extreme need. Today she proudly relates that she feels fulfilled by being able to take care of herself.

Friends, coffee and salsa

In less than two years after her arrival in Argentina, she not only managed to find a job, she also has a group of Argentine and Venezuelan friends who get together to have coffee or ice cream, go Salsa dancing, and even save space in her diary for the social work, an activity that was already carried out in Venezuela and that is carried out today voluntarily sewing warm clothes for people in need that approaches the parish.

“Protecting and hosting refugees is not enough. We must also offer them opportunities to thrive. Like everyone, they need education, employment and a sense of belonging – to be a part. The communities that host them also require our support and resources. This June 20 at World Refugee Daywe reaffirm our commitment to solidarity and durable solutions for refugees,” said Karmen Sakhr, UNHCR regional representative for southern Latin America.

“I have felt loved and welcomed in Argentina,” says Gladys. “I feel the human warmth with which they treat me, and I appreciate that so much. It was very difficult for me to make the decision to leave my country, I didn’t want to leave, because I lived with my youngest granddaughters, who at that time were 1 and 3 years old. It was very difficult to separate from them,” Gladis expressed with tears of nostalgia, and although she has very frequent contact through video calls, her granddaughter, who is now 5 years old, stays awake with the idea of ​​meeting them again in person and has every the expectation that that desire can come true this year. “My dream is that we can all be together again.”

While waiting for their reunion, Gladis lives a life that was not in her plans, but that makes her happy, because she herself was finding her spaces, her places, her people, her home, far from home.

*According to the most recent data from the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants (R4V), until May 2024, Argentina is a host country for approximately 164,000 Venezuelan people.

UNHCR and its partners support the socio-economic inclusion of refugees and other forcibly displaced people, through the provision of start-up capital, capacity building to improve entrepreneurship and learning new skills and trades.

The MIRARES Foundation (Migrants, Refugees and Argentine Social Entrepreneurs) is a UNHCR partner agency that implements projects aimed at providing advice, support for socioeconomic inclusion and sustainable livelihoods to refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.

This report was produced by Natalia Montagna, from the United Nations Information Center in Buenos Aires, for UN News.