A few years ago, the living conditions of individuals and entire families in Venezuela were (and continue to be) dire, and in Barinas State it began to be noticed much more than elsewhere. There no longer were citizens roaming the streets as a result of drugs or alcohol, gradually there appeared organized groups that stood guard in places where the garbage containers were placed with a common goal: to find something to eat.
By La Patilla
Jul 21, 2022
Daniel Sanojas, currently a human rights defender, broadcaster and board member of an association of social communicators in the town of Socopó, Sucre Municipality of Barinas State, toured neighborhoods, hamlets, rural and urban sectors where he got to know the reality of many people. “The largest percentage lives in precariousness,” he says. From this moment on Sanojas assumed by himself a form of help, collecting clothes, belongings, medicines and food, which he took to the family that he remembered was in great need.
“Los Buenos Somos Más”, a project that was born to combat extreme poverty in Barinas
“I felt pain, many times I cried, I sat down to think what to do and I set myself in this work to benefit others without expecting a reward.” Mr. Sanojas had felt a pinch in the human fiber, the same one that touches the sensitivity of people. He set a program for himself, went out into the streets, visited friends, merchants, and asked again and again to continue exercising this apostolate that had fallen from heaven. “God put me on this path for a reason, he showed me that poverty is a reality and that in Barinas extreme poverty is not just a story, it’s true.”
Overcoming Adversity
“Los Buenos Somos Más”, a project that was born to combat extreme poverty in Barinas
The situation was becoming more difficult every day, because more families continued to be added to the list of food emergency situation. They could not wait any longer without receiving help because they were at risk of dying of hunger or from some disease. “There the road became thorny, rocky, exhausting, because I was getting anxious and I didn’t have the supplies, that complicated things for me,” he says.
Apart from the lack of financial resources, Sanojas faced other problems that made it difficult to obtain more easily what any family needed. He endured small-town hearsay that he was interested in running for political office and that he was campaigning among the poor. “Through my work I got to know party leaders, I have accompanied them to these communities, but when that happened my objective was clear: it is the people.”
Families do not only require food. “You enter a house and notice that there are children with malformations in their little bodies and since they don’t have a walker or wheelchair, they drag themselves through the floor. Others do not go to school because they do not even have a notebook. I have seen cases of special needs in bulk, and these people require help to live under these conditions. Unfortunately, sometimes I can’t do anything because I don’t have the means to do it. That frustrates you.”
A Network of Collaborators
“Los Buenos Somos Más”, a project that was born to combat extreme poverty in Barinas
“Over time I realized that in this effort to seek donations for others I was not alone. I met many people who gave and nobody knew, and they still give and don’t want anyone to know, because they belong to a Christian church or simply because they don’t like to make noise with what they do. Contrary to these cases, we also see plenty of others in Barinas and throughout Venezuela, where they give and make a big fuss.”
When the people who were responsible for the aid began to trust each other and were confident that it reached families in need, they matured the idea of forming a single team that would expand its radius of action and facilitate its deployment at companies, organizations, institutions, foundations, etc. and then involve local, regional, national and foreign governments that would like to contribute to this cause of combating extreme poverty.
“Los Buenos Somos Más were born from this idea. And we chose this name, because it has become very popular in social media tags. It is the one used by many to celebrate that something was resolved with the help of others, and in the end it is a great reality that we Venezuelans enjoy, because we are a people that have shown solidarity with those who have the least, and that is where we got into.
In a short time 110 people joined, through an open group on WhatsApp, the project directed by Daniel Sanojas under the name “Los Buenos Somos Más”, which described itself as a “group created to help people with limited resources or extreme poverty” with food, clothing, medicine, household goods and artifacts, and other things. The direct contact number for this project is +58 414 554-2159, and more recently they are on the Instagram social network: @losbuenosomosmasoficial.
Crossing Borders
“We do not have limitations or conditions for donations, and the collaborators do not restrict where we should go either, because when we got involved in this beautiful work, we covered a very small radius of action and that contributed to the fact that a large number of families were not able to throughout their history of precariousness, and all this is a consequence of the very limited resources that the organizations or groups have to work with. That is why each person who joins the project is very important.”
The project works, and when they do not act directly, they are indirectly linked because they have made each case visible and others willing to help with resources and are interested in solving it.
In this way, “Los Buenos Somos Más” contributes and fulfills its social objective, as happened on July 6th with Jesús Daniel, a child with disabilities who lives with his single mother and his grandfather in Ciudad Bolivia, Pedraza Municipality, in dire economic need. They slept on the floor, and after having spread it on their networks, the answer came through the Children’s Foundation, represented by María Glorisol, wife of the Barinas’ Governor, Sergio Garrido. She took it upon herself to donate a wheelchair, clothes, beds, mattresses, bedding and food.
That same day, Verónica Delgado, an elderly midwife who already has difficulties moving around and helps herself with a cane, got entangled and suffered a concusion on her knee was introduced to “Los Buenos Somos Más” (The good ones are more). Verónica needed a walker to facilitate her mobility within the house and it was donated by a person who joined this group of donors and aid promoters who lives in Acarigua, Portuguesa State.
“People from all over the country have joined and sometimes I wonder what happened to get this far. We thought that we would only have friends from Barinas, but that has not been the case, and it has become so good that we cannot and do not want to stop its growth,” commented Daniel Sanojas full of satisfaction.
New Cases, More Donations
“Los Buenos Somos Más”, a project that was born to combat extreme poverty in Barinas
The sadness that can be caused by the suffering of seeing families with needs of all kinds has not paralyzed the good will of the people who want to help, so donors and supplies continue to arrive to attend to the cases that appear two or three a day, and the most recent have been detected in communities of Socopó, Barinas.
Iris Marquina’s case was publicized and she is currently receiving help. An anonymous donor verified the situation of this 36-year-old mother of five children, two of whom have special needs due to muscular dystrophy that prevents them from walking. Eduardo, 18 years old, and Yusmeiker, 11 years old, are also unable to go to school as a result of their conditions. The family requires a wheelchair, clothing, food and medications such as Complex B, Privocar, Dayamineral (multivitamins), among other things.
“We are confident in God that full help will come to the Valero Marquina family. We already have a person who has collaborated and does not want us to reveal her name, because she knows that she will receive her reward from the highest and that way she will be able to treasure in heaven what is most important to her. We respect and appreciate her for what she did,” Sanojas highlighted.
The task of “Los Buenos Somos Más” has no rest, due to the low purchasing power of many families that survive by reinventing commercial activities in Barinas, and not all of them end up achieving of what they want, which forces them to beg to acquire some product that they need to feed themselves.
In the streets, not all citizens are willing to give, and those who ask out of necessity in most cases receive insults, contempt and humiliation. This leads this volunteer organization to add a new way of working aimed at raising awareness among the population so that it is recognized that there are Venezuelans who live under very adverse conditions, who really do not have to eat every day and begging is not part of a hobby, but rather the variables that affect them have overshadowed their present and future.
“We will not rest, we will not faint, because there are families that need a helping hand. First of all God who guides us and does not allow this love for the other to disappear. That is what we are here for, the good ones are more,” concluded Daniel Sanojas.
“Los Buenos Somos Más”, a project that was born to combat extreme poverty in Barina.s
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