Med­ical out­reach work­er Dr Christi­na Ben­itez has been trav­el­ling to Ica­cos to pro­vide care to Warao chil­dren liv­ing along the south-west­ern coast­line, as the mi­grant pop­u­la­tion in the area con­tin­ues to grow and un­cer­tain­ty deep­ens amid on­go­ing re­gion­al ten­sions.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Dr Ben­itez said her heart broke when she saw the chil­dren on the beach play­ing in the sand with sores on their feet. Their sto­ry was high­light­ed in a Guardian of the Peo­ple pub­li­ca­tion in Oc­to­ber. Us­ing her own per­son­al funds, Dr Ben­itez has been go­ing to the area to of­fer as­sis­tance.

“I have been try­ing my best to help, but it is too much for me to do alone. These chil­dren need us,” Dr Ben­itez said as she called for a com­pre­hen­sive, sus­tain­able plan to help mi­grant fam­i­lies.