Venezuela Migrant Crisis: Migrants find compassion, and food, in Peruvian border town

World
Europe

02:49

Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are appealing for help in dealing with a flood of migrants from Venezuela. They're asking other countries to help provide food and medical care for the new arrivals. In Peru, officials say many are sick and malnourished when they arrive. CGTN's Dan Collyns reports on the impact migrants are having on a city near the border with Ecuador.

More than a lunch it's a lifeline. The church in the main square in Tumbes has always handed out free meals for the poor. But in the last few months, the lunch line has grown much longer, filled with Venezuelans fleeing food and medical shortages back home.

DAN COLLYNS TUMBES, PERU "Here on the Peruvian border, it's the towns people who are shouldering the burden. With donations from schools and churches, volunteers prepare a daily lunch for 100s of Venezuelans - for many it's the only meal they'll eat today."

Most of the migrants are getting by as street vendors, like Karina Leon who sells homemade cocada- a sweet made from coconut.

KARINA LEONVENEZUELAN MIGRANT "These lunches are a real help because a lunch costs around two dollars and if I'm earning eight dollars-a-day then I'm left with six dollars, with that it's hard to send any money home."

And the last three months have seen more and more hungry children among the growing numbers of Venezuelans.

ANIANA HOPROGRAM COORDINATOR "We're giving out more than 200 lunches, we began with 50 but in the last two weeks we've been handing out at least 150 lunches to satisfy the hunger of our fellow Venezuelans. A lot of them are passing through, others are setting up home in the city but we know all of them are fleeing a humanitarian crisis."

By and large, the people of this small border city have embraced the fleeing Venezuelans. But that help can't continue on goodwill alone and Peru, along with Ecuador and Colombia, is calling for more international aid to cope with the migrant crisis. A health emergency has been declared here and officials say the flood of migrants has spread new cases of malaria and measles.

DR. LUIS SUAREZCHIEF OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, MINISTRY OF HEALTH "We can't prevent a person suffering from a disease from entering, we understand that this is part of the humanitarian crisis which Venezuela is going through and we're trying to reduce the risk of diseases spreading without interfering with the people's movement."

On arrival in Peru, migrants get free medical attention and nurses check that children's vaccinations are up to date. Cases of malnutrition and anemia are not uncommon in the youngest, but the chance to eat a free meal every day is - little by little - making a difference. Dan Collyns, CGTN, in Tumbes, Peru.