'I never thought
I would leave this way'
Aurilenys Garcia
Aurilenys Garcia always liked the idea of leaving the country but she never thought she would have to leave like this. Not at the age of 20.
Aurilenys or Auri, as she likes to be called, had to drop out of university as the crisis began to creep on her family.
The food shortages affected them the most. Every couple of days, the whole family would have to leave their home to look for food around the city.
She was young, and when the opportunity for a better life knocked on her door, she didn't hesitate. Despite how much she would miss her family.
"All of us looked (for goods) so that we could eat"
"All of us looked (for goods) so that we could eat"
Auri was only her first year of university when she dropped out. She was studying Business Administration but the crisis made it too difficult for her to continue attending her lectures.
After leaving university, the only activity on her day was to play hockey. She was a talented player and was paid by her club to play. But even playing was getting harder.
Everyday her family and her had to look for food. They all searched around San Felix, her hometown, located nine hours away from Caracas, “you had to go and look for it (food) because you wouldn’t find in your house”.
It was a daily struggle. The crisis had taken a toll on her and didn’t even allowed her to study at university. She knew that she had to go.
Since she was young, she had always thought about leaving the country. As life would have it, shortly after leaving university, her dream would come through, just not in the way she would have want it.
“My cousin had been in Peru for a couple of months and she said that she was going to help me move and that things were a bit easier back there”, she remembers, “it wasn’t hard to say yes”.
Auri moved to look for a better life but also to try and help his family by sending money from abroad.
She wanted to ease their struggles.
“My heart broke in half when I left. I cried so much after leaving them, after saying goodbye to my family. I left half of my heart there”.
And so, in May 2018, she left Venezuela.
Aurilenys high school's graduation
Aurilenys high school's graduation
It was an 8-day bus journey from San Felix to Lima. Auri left her hometown on a Sunday and got to Lima on a Monday.
She knew it was going to be a long trip, so she was prepared for it mentally, “I tried to ease the pressure out of it by saying ‘it’s a trip and that’s it, you knew it was going to be this long”. As a hockey player from San Felix, the state farthest away in Venezuela, she had come used to long bus trips.
From the journey, she remembers, especially, the contrast between the cold weather of Ecuador and the warmth of Colombia.
Once in Lima, she settled in with her cousin and began to look for a job immediately. She was lucky enough to find a job on her first day in a hair salon, however, they were only willing to pay her per customer and Auri wasn’t willing to accept that, “I came here for a steady income, and they weren’t willing to pay me that”.
On the next day, thanks to her cousin she managed to land a job as a cashier in a restaurant. Not long after, she was working as a waitress.
In contrast to many Venezuelans, Auri managed to find jobs quite easily in part thanks to her one connection in the country. She adapted very quickly to the city and didn’t take her long to start saving up some money.
Once her job situation was resolved, she began to look for opportunities to continue to play hockey in the country. Initially, she was sad at the thought of not playing while she was in Peru because she didn’t know anyone in the league.
However, she met some other Venezuelans who helped her find a club, where she would continue playing. In June, she joined OMA Hockey Club. With them, she did not only found a new team but also a new group of friends, which made her transition into the new country a lot smoother.
Aurilenys playing with her new club in September 2018
Aurilenys playing with her new club in September 2018
After a couple of months with her cousin, Auri moved in with a friend to a nice apartment in Lima in August. A couple of days later, luck would strike her again as her next-door neighbours were looking for a nanny to take care of their baby.
Auri had always been fond of children and promptly filled the position, leaving the restaurant in return. This is the job that she still holds until this date.
"If you already started from scratch why don’t you just continue?”
Unlike most Venezuelans, Auri doesn’t think about going back to her beloved Venezuela. She has made herself a new life and doesn’t want to go through that again.
“Whenever Venezuela gets fixed, you would start in the same way as you did in Peru, as others do in Argentina, in Chile. You’re going to start from scratch again. You’re going to have to get a job again, you’re going to have to get money again. If you already started from scratch why don’t you just continue”.
Her short-term future lies in Peru and she is planning to go back to university once she is a bit more stable and organised in the country. She’s only been there for less than a year anyway.
Aurilenys on the top of a building in Lima (2018)
Aurilenys on the top of a building in Lima (2018)
However, in the long run, she doesn’t know if she’ll stay in Peru. She is open to new possibilities, including leaving her new country. She always dreamt about going abroad anyway.
Despite that, she never forgets those who still struggle to escape from Venezuela. Any of them could be her relative and it hurts her as she managed to escape and is now lucky enough to be at (relative) ease, while they continue to suffer.
"It makes me sad to hear, to see them (Venezuelans struggling). It makes me nostalgic that I managed to leave and I made it but thousands of Venezuelans are fighting to leave and help their family.
To see all those little children going through the cold, hunger and I'm comfortable here. It hurts a lot. It hurts a lot because it could be a relative of mine and I'm here."
"Thousands of Venezuelans are fighting to leave and help their family"
"Thousands of Venezuelans are fighting to leave and help their family"
They all do it for their family and Auri has found herself doing the same.
"I can help them here. They are my reason to keep going forward".
