Weary migrants in Colombia are experiencing God's love and redemption through Samaritan's Purse programs along the border.
Adelette faced a daunting decision. She could stay in Venezuela, her home country, and endure the escalating violence and political turmoil all alone with her children, or she could flee through the jungle to Colombia and meet her sister on the other side. She decided to go.
The 33-year-old mother packed her life into three bags and trekked through the Venezuelan Amazon over the border to Colombia with her three daughters in hand—a journey many millions of Venezuelans have taken over the last decade to escape the country’s unprecedented economic collapse.
“Hunger was my biggest fear,” Adelette recounted. Within months, the bolivar—Venezuela’s currency—experienced hyperinflation on a level never before seen. Simple groceries suddenly cost millions of bolivares. Venezuelans suddenly had no means to care for themselves.
“Many nights, bread and water were our only meal. My youngest daughter even suffered from malnutrition.” Still, the mother knew where her help came from: “Yet, even in that darkness, I felt God’s presence.”
Adelette (third from right) connected with Samaritan’s Purse through the church she attends in the migrant community in Colombia. Through the power of God’s Word, our programs are helping the mother of three heal from the trauma in her past.
Adelette’s faith in God sustained her through thick jungles, on many overcrowded bus rides, and finally into Cúcuta, Colombia, where she met her sister. Soon after, she took a job, but quickly realized the situation was not what she expected. She found herself subject to abuse.
“I felt vulnerable and trapped,” she shared, “but I knew I couldn’t stay. Not at that price.”
This all happened about six years ago. Over the years, Adelette has carried these silent wounds while trying to care for her family. She began to wonder if leaving Venezuela had been a mistake.
Identity Is Found in Christ
Amid the turmoil, Adelette turned to the local church for help. That’s where she found Samaritan’s Purse. Now, with the help of our programs and team members, Adelette is able to process the pain she endured through the light of God’s Word and overcome the loneliness that followed her from Venezuela.
“I feel empowered, supported, and accompanied by this incredible team,” she said. “They are an answer to my prayers.”
Samaritan’s Purse began working in Colombia in 2018 to help Venezuelan migrants fleeing violence and economic insecurity. For the last seven years, we have provided desperately needed food and shelter for families and young children, medical care at various points along the border, and invaluable emotional and spiritual support for thousands of individuals like Adelette and her children. Samaritan’s Purse connects with these families—many composed only of women and children—and shares the hope of the Gospel.
Samaritan’s Purse is present in many makeshift migrant communities in Colombia along the border with Venezuela to provide emotional and spiritual healing by sharing God’s love through reading His Word.
Oriana Lea, the protection program manager for Samaritan’s Purse in Colombia, says that God is working through the program in ways never thought possible. Many Venezuelan migrants are finding healing at our trainings, and hope for the future through the relationships built with our staff.
“Throughout this process, we have seen God’s provision and love show up in different situations we thought we could not give an answer,” Lea said. “Adelette and her family have experienced God’s guidance and protection during this time, where they have been able to overcome the obstacles and challenges that arose.”
Through local churches, Samaritan’s Purse is now also providing protection programs that help migrants stay safe and grow in Christ. Participants receive discipleship training, Christian literature, and emotional and spiritual support. There are also workshops on entrepreneurship and gender-based violence prevention.
“The training is invaluable,” Adelette said. “It provides tools for me to move forward as a woman, to advocate for my rights as a migrant, and to nurture my spiritual well-being. Each meeting leaves me renewed, filled with God’s presence.”
Our programs reminded Adelette that—despite all that’s happened to her in the past—she is still a daughter of the King.
“Jesus is my strength, my love, my everything—without Him, my life would be empty,” she said. She and her children have grown roots in the migrant community, and Adelette now teaches others about the peace she has come to know. “I’m sharing what God has given me,” she said. “When Jesus touches a life, He brings the light of dawn ever-increasing. He faithfully perfects His work day by day.”
Samaritan’s Purse organized a Mother’s Day celebration for Adelette and dozens of other mothers in the migrant community. They enjoyed a time of fellowship, teaching, and all left with a Samaritan’s Purse care package full of personal hygiene supplies and kitchen equipment.
As migrants continue to flood into Colombia, unseen trauma follows. For Lea and the Samaritan’s Purse team, Isaiah 43:19 has been a constant reminder of God’s sovereign hand restoring life and joy out of the most hopeless situations: “I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).
Life Is Precious
Another Venezuelan migrant, Nohely, was pregnant when she crossed into Colombia.
She and her husband, Alexander, had lost their first child before he was born due to unexpected health complications. Now pregnant a second time, the young couple’s fear only grew when Nohely was diagnosed with diabetes. But this time around, Samaritan’s Purse was there to help.
Nohely and Alexander were connected to a Samaritan’s Purse clinic in Puerto Santander along the north end of the Colombia-Venezuela border. Our doctors and nurses were able to monitor the mother’s health and the baby’s growth in the womb until a healthy boy was born. His name is Marcelo.
‘Dios es fiel’ means ‘God is faithful’ in Spanish. Nohely and Alexander praise God for their baby boy Marcelo.
“Samaritan’s Purse is the best institution I could know because they made a dream I had a long time ago come true” Nohely said. “It was impossible for the other doctors to have my baby [because of my condition], but not at Samaritan’s Purse because God dwells there with them.”
Samaritan’s Purse not only provided healthcare, but also flooded Nohely with prayer and God’s love.
“From the first day, they took care of me,” she said. “They are angels that God put in my way; a second family.” As she held baby Marcelo, tears filled her eyes: “Today I am living my biggest dream: to be a mom.”
Please pray for the work of Samaritan’s Purse in Colombia. Pray that many more lives—like that of Adelette and Nohely—would be uplifted by God’s love. Pray that migrants and Colombians alike would experience Jesus’ promise: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
“Children are a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3)
