00:12My name is Jenny Tobar, I am Venezuelan. We decided to migrate nine years ago.
00:20First my husband migrated due to circumstances, because we were, so to speak, on the verge of starving to death.
00:32So.
00:33My husband would go to the fruit stand across the street and collect the little pieces of yucca that they cut off to sell.
00:45because we had no way to buy it.
00:46Then I couldn't stand that situation anymore and I said to him, "Are you leaving or am I leaving?" Because we felt that
00:56We couldn't take it anymore.
01:00My name is Victor Grael Perez Castillo, I sell plantains, potatoes and pork rinds here in the Medellin area.
01:09It was easy having seven kids in a house, plus my wife and me. My wife didn't count, I didn't.
01:15He told me because we were hungry every day.
01:19But as long as our children had a piece of papaya, a mango, two bananas in their stomachs.
01:24I came here to Colombia, and for the first 28 days I slept on the street.
01:30He was practically a homeless person when I arrived here.
01:34Until one day I went to the retail market and got a job as a fruit vendor.
01:43And so it was, with the salary he gave me, I sent him there, I sent him there.
01:47But there came a time when the salary I was sending, 20,000, 30,000 pesos, wasn't enough, it wasn't enough to feed them
01:52my children.
01:52Until she arrived and came on foot. My wife came here with my seven children and my bad grandchildren.
01:59I left my house by bus to Cúcuta. We crossed the river.
02:05Thank God the river wasn't too high that day, but it still hit the boy like a ton of bricks.
02:11chest.
02:12And they carried us on their shoulders.
02:16That was very shocking to me.
02:18We all arrived at a house where about 30 people slept.
02:26And from there we left, we rented separately and our, so to speak, stability began.
02:36Is this how we're going to work?
02:38Before the pandemic started, our little house collapsed.
02:41In La Iguana, where we went to live separately.
02:45We lost everything, everything, everything.
02:47There was a small room where they put the mattresses and the children slept and things like that.
02:52Until there was a pastor here in the neighborhood, named Pastor Eberto,
02:58And they told me, "Here's a little house."
03:02So, we decided to come.
03:05I worked with plantains and potatoes, with tostones, we made tostones in Venezuela.
03:11I arrived, prepared five, carried them with a candle, and sold all five.
03:16I looked for ten, I glued all ten.
03:18And so it was, until I realized, I'm selling almost 150 products a day.
03:25And here we go.
03:26I'll tell you, it's not easy.
03:29We're a big family, you understand?
03:31And food is a daily, daily thing.
03:32But compared to where we were before, compared to where we got here, right now, believe it or not, this is paradise.
03:41Here, with entrepreneurship, organizations began to arrive, giving us that impetus to learn from what we had.
03:51we would reveal and learn other things that we didn't know.
03:55And that's when I started to learn about the routes, the support organizations, and where I could go for help.
04:04and all that.
04:05And I was also that spokesperson to those who were arriving, we would tell them what they could do.
04:13The IOM gave us some finance workshops.
04:17In those workshops there was a savings program and we were selected for lease support by IOM.
04:28We got together at the house, my wife and I and the boys, and I said to them, well, we have this support.
04:34Let's not say we don't need it, but we've been able to replace the lease.
04:40What I haven't been able to do is get my business off the ground.
04:44So let's get started. It's an amazing change.
04:51Attention everyone, the delicious and tasty plantains have arrived, ripe and green, for two thousand pesos.
04:57Try them, they're delicious.
04:58If you want to start a business, give it to me like someone else did, you understand.
05:03But I need just one thing, the banana slicer.
05:09And a store downtown, anywhere, and that wholesale product.
05:14The dream, let's say we're going to fulfill it, God willing, is to have our own factory.
05:22Yes, we can do it, I know we can. It's in my heart that I know we can.
05:27And not only that, my restaurant.
05:30Yes, I can, I have the ability, I have my health, but I lack many other things, many tools.
05:39But, as they say, I have the basics.
05:43And if I want to do it, I can do it.
05:46And even more so if it's within me, next to that one, who supports me in doing it.
05:51Colombia is the best country to live in, to start a business, to work, to hustle, as they say here.
05:59Colombia opened its doors to me, here I am, here are my children, they are in university, they are working.
06:04They are not married yet, but they have children.
06:07And here we are, as they say, in the little golden cup, which is Medellín, which is Colombia.
06:12Here, every business takes off; what you need is to come with the desire to work and move forward.
06:17And that's it.
06:17And that's it, that's all.
06:18But we'll get through this.
06:20First and foremost, desire, health, God, above all else.
06:25And my husband and my family.
06:27If we all support that, I think it's enough.
06:45And if we have that support, I think it's very important.
