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Caracas, a
city of about 5 million people, separated from the Caribean Sea by only
a few mountains enjoys a very pleasant tropical climate. If you follow
the recommendations of you traveller's guide, you will start exploring
the city in the safer quarters like Altamira, Sabana Grande, Chacao, or
Las Mercedes. You will encounter a city very much like any other
American city, maybe apart from the palm trees. You will find gigantic
shopping malls, cinema palaces, overflowing highways, skyscraping office
buildings and not to forget advertisement all over the place. This is
the first face of the city with which every tourist that ever decided to
pay a visit to Caracas is familiar. |
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A visit to the historical
centre of the city turns out to be very pleasant. You can take a
breath of colonial history. Simon Bolivar, 'El Libertador', is
celebrated as the national hero and you cannot walk through the city
centre without being reminded of him constantly. The heart of the
historical part of the city is the Plaza Bolivar, around which
administrative buildings and the treasures of history are located. |
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| But then there is the second face, that there is
little to find about in traveller's guides. And even with the best
intentions, it is after all not so easy to be faced with it. It is the
part of the city that winds up the mountain hills, where the roads
become narrow and where regular cab drivers refuse to take you. It is
the part of the city that should not be there and the part of the city
for whose inhabitants this side is dedicated. The following pictures
show how more than 50 percent of the population of Venezuela actually
lives. These are pictures of one of the slums of Caracas, so called
Barrios. The word Barrio is not even mentioned in the "Lonely
Planet" traveller's guide for Venezuela and if you google it, you
immediately find webpages, strongly advising you not to go there. |
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Usually, the development of a
barrio starts as an illegal settlement. If its inhabitants are lucky,
the settlement will be accepted by the city government after some time
and some basic infrastructure is supplied like water, electricity, and
public transport. In this particular barrio, water was supplied, but
since all the pipes were leaking, running water only existed for a
couple of hours a day at most. |
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Even among people inside the
barrio, there is a large gradation of poverty. Some families have jobs
in the city or in the barrio providing a minimal income. It allows them
to live in simple stone houses. But there are also families, who don't
have anything apart from many mouths to feed and an empty fridge. Sadly
enough, the notion of family in this context usually comprises a mother
with lots of children and without a husband. The saddest examples I've
seen were: a mother, seriously ill without hope of recovery, alone with
three children, living inside a few aluminum walls ... |
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| ... and a twenty-seven
year old grand mother, living with her children and grandchildren in a
place with a few rags and lots of nothing. |
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On a warm and sunny Caracas mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the barrio
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed ...
[E. Presley]
It is certainly a common phenomenon that poverty is correlated with
lots of children. Children, who only know the area where they grow up.
Children that usually don't go to school regularly. Children who have to
support their mothers and younger siblings. Children with dreams.
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Pater Miguel, born in Belgium, has
been living in this Barrio for fourty years, dedicating his life to the
people supporting them in their struggle to survive. He is always
welcome especially in the poorest areas. He is also a patron of the
clinic "Casa de la Salud", where German doctors provide basic help to
the inhabitants. The clinic is founded by the organization "Ärzte
für die dritte Welt" (doctors for the Third World), which
distributes collected donations in various places around the world. |
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| A few examples of
treatment: Removing bullets (maybe once a month) or destroyed teeth
(10-20 a day). |
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Most of the houses are built
without foundation, and if needed they are just extended by another
floor. Therefore, the houses are basically unprotected against
landslides. Many houses show marks of the slides. Stone walls just break
and floors develop huge steps inside the room. |
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| The last pictures show
the local church and a lonely Christmas tree. |
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| There is no copyright for the pictures. Feel free
to use them as long as you use them in favour of the people shown on the
pictures. If you need them in higher resolution just send me an email: Johannes Martin |
