Helping Alexandra and Sarah settle in the U.S.

“In the darkness, the little girl called out for her mother, her tiny form lit by the moon. The two had left their home in Venezuela, bound for the United States.

To get there, though, they would have to cross a brutal jungle called the Darién.

And in the chaos of the trek, the child had lost her only parent.

To contain her fear, Sarah Cuauro, just 6 years old, began to sing.

'The glory of God, giant and sacred,' she croaked through tears. 'He carries me in his arms.'”

(Italicized text excerpted from Julie Turkewitz, New York Times, Nov. 9, 2022)

Hi, our names are Brodi and Sara. We are two moms raising money for Alexandra and her 6-year-old daughter Sarah Cuauro, Venezuelan refugees who were featured in a powerful New York Times story by Julie Turkewitz: A Girl Loses Her Mother in the Jungle, and a Migrant Dream Dies (Nov. 9, 2022, excerpts pasted below)

We both have young children and cried when we read the story. We were imagining our own children in similar circumstances, the impossible choices Alexandra was facing, and how harrowing, terrifying, and unbearable the journey must have been. We were left asking: what happened to Alexandra and Sarah? Are they safe? Are they back home in Venezuela? Who is helping them?

We decided we had to try to do something to help this fellow mother.

We contacted the NYT author, and to our amazement, she connected us directly with Alexandra and Sarah in a shelter in Honduras. We’re in daily contact with Alexandra, and we are now sponsoring her and Sarah to come to the US under a special program for Venezuelans that will allow them to come to the US legally and safely and to rebuild a life in the US. But we need your help.

Please help us give this courageous mother and her daughter a second chance.

WHO ARE ALEXANDRA AND SARAH?

Alexandra is a University grad, a lawyer in Venezuela, worked her whole life. With extreme food shortages and a collapsing government in Venezuela, they fled in desperation. She and Sarah first trekked across the Atacama Desert into Chile trying to make a better life, but couldn’t earn enough to feed herself and Sarah. She then learned that the US was allowing Venezuelans at the US border to enter and apply for political asylum. Alexandra chose the least-bad option, and decided to make the dangerous trek. Midway on their journey, the US policy on border entry changed. So, in another cruel twist, they survived this horrific journey through the Darien Gap (as documented in the NYT story), only to be stuck.

This journey was never a choice Alexandra wanted to make—she loves her home country and was an accomplished middle-class mom—but her world collapsed around her. She was, and is, determined through sheer grit, faith, and courage to do whatever it takes to build a better life for her daughter, and we are trying to help her do that, supporting her efforts to come to the US legally and safely.

WHERE ARE ALEXANDRA AND SARAH NOW?

Alexandra and Sarah are in a shelter in Honduras, awaiting word from USCIS to travel lawfully to the US, under a special program for Venezuelans. We exchange messages with Alexandra daily. They are safe but very eager to get out of the shelter.

OUR EFFORTS

Together with a pro-bono attorney, Alexandra's sister and brother-in-law, we are sponsoring Alexandra and Sarah so they can come to the US under a special "humanitarian parole" program announced in November 2022. Under this program, the US will admit up to 24,000 Venezuelans who have a US sponsor that will provide financial support, among other requirements.

After more research, we learned that the US has there are thousands of American families sponsoring a limited number of Ukrainian, Afghan and Venezuelan refugees so they can come to the US legally, apply for residency, pay taxes, and try to build a life fleeing unimaginable scenarios in their native countries.

We have applied to sponsor Alexandra under this special status.

IMMIGRATION STATUS: We are anxiously awaiting final approval for Alexandra to travel to the US any day now! Once approved, we will buy flights for them to Colorado, where we are arranging housing, schooling, free English language classes, and other community support.

NEAR-TERM HOUSING AND JOB: On arrival in Colorado, Alexandra and her daughter Sarah will live with Sara, her husband Lloyd and their two girls until we can help them get their feet under them, help Alexandra find work, find affordable housing, and start some savings.

For these first months, Sara and Lloyd will provide food and housing, and Sara has identified some initial community support, including Venezuelan national community groups, and free English-language classes for Alexandra as soon as she arrives.

SCHOOL: We just received confirmation that our local bilingual elementary school has a spot for Sarah to continue first grade! Sarah will be in the same class as Sara’s daughter. All her teachers are fluent in both English and Spanish and will be able to help Sarah with this big transition. She will be able to learn English surrounded by 60% Spanish-speaking children who are also newly learning the language, and 40% English-speaking children learning Spanish.

Sarah in Venezuela. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Cuauro.

LONG-TERM HOUSING: We are actively searching for affordable, long-term housing for Alexandra and have several community groups helping us pursue the best option.

FUNDRAISING - WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Funds Needed:

1. One-way flights for Alexandra and her daughter Sarah to get to the US (approximately $1200 total—USCIS requires flights, driving/busing is not an option)

2. Clothing (seeking gently used children’s clothing donations from the local Boulder community and funds for Alexandra) (approximately $1000 total plus in-kind donations)

3. Basic home supplies for their apartment (approximately $1000 total plus in-kind donations)

4. First and last month's rent, security deposit (approximately $4000 total)

If we raise more funds than we need immediately (estimated, $7200) we will pass the funds on to Alexandra and Sarah to kickstart their new life in the US.

We will update this site with additional information as Alexandra's immigration petition is reviewed, and as she arrives in the US!

Thanks so much for your help!

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

PHOTO CREDIT: Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times

Alexandra and Sarah left their home in Venezuela, seeking to build a better life in the US. Since January 2022, at least 215,000 people have made the dangerous journey through the Darien Gap into Panama. Of those, 33,000 have been children.

Bolded text is ours; quoted text and photos are excerpted from the New York Times story by Julie Turkewitz, "A Girl Loses Her Mother in the Jungle, and a Migrant Dream Dies," (Nov 9, 2022, copyright, New York Times):

"Some migrants come from desperately poor families. But many, like Sarah and her mother, Dayry Alexandra Cuauro, were once middle class, and now, thrust into desperation by their homeland’s financial ruin, have decided to risk their lives in the jungle.

...

The Darién had not been Ms. Cuauro’s first choice, or even her second. Raised in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, she had in recent years lived through extreme shortages of food, hyperinflation and the collapse of nearly every state institution in Venezuela.

Earlier this year, she and Sarah had trekked across the Atacama Desert into Chile, thinking they could build a new life there. But Ms. Cuauro quickly found she could not make ends meet working as a cashier and a taxi driver.

Back in Venezuela, she considered applying for a U.S. visa, but discovered that the next available appointment was in 2024.

She thought about flying to Mexico and turning herself in at the U.S. border, but learned that Mexico now requires Venezuelans to have a visa to enter the country, the latest in a string of nations along the path to the United States to impose such regulations.

She made a decision: She and Sarah would head for the jungle. In Venezuela, they sold everything, even their plastic Christmas tree, and left on a bus with their passports, $820 in cash and a blessing from Ms. Cuauro’s mother.

'On the route,' she had promised, 'you’re going to find angels.'"

Migrants at the top of “the Hill of Death”. PHOTO CREDIT: Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times

Ángel García helping Sarah over fallen trees in the Darién. PHOTO CREDIT: Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times

Mr. García and his friends Gerardo Amesty and Luis Martínez protected Sarah in the jungle when she was separated from Alexandra for 3 days. PHOTO CREDIT: Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times

Sarah waiting at a camp in the Darién after becoming separated from her mother. PHOTO CREDIT: Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times

“Their joy was short-lived.

Like many Venezuelans, Ms. Cuauro left for the Darién believing that if she managed to cross the jungle and make it through Central America and Mexico, the United States would let her in.

Because Washington has no relationship with Caracas, it had no way of deporting Venezuelans back home. And in recent months, the United States had allowed thousands of Venezuelans to enter the country and ask for asylum.

Word of this had spread rapidly, helping to drive a massive surge to the border. Now, the Biden administration was struggling to deal with a widening humanitarian and political crisis.

Sarah and her mother exited the Darién on Oct. 10. Two days later, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Venezuelans who arrived at the U.S. southern border would no longer be allowed to enter the United States. At the same time, a small number of Venezuelans — 24,000 people — would be given legal entry if they applied from abroad, and if they had a U.S. sponsor."

…

"Sponsors had to be U.S. citizens, or meet other residency requirements, and demonstrate an ability to financially support an immigrant for up to two years.

Ms. Cuauro was devastated. She had no sponsor. By this point she and Sarah had taken a series of buses to Honduras. They had used all their money.

She was going to a migration office to beg for a flight home. 'It pains me to abandon the dream of living in a safe place,' she wrote. 'But the situation has forced my hand.'

Immediately after the announcement of the new entry rule, migrants were still emerging from the Darién at a rate of more than 4,000 a day, a record. Since then, the number has tumbled to about 600 — still 20 times the daily average just a few years ago.

Ms. Cuauro and her daughter wound up in a shelter in Honduras with a dozen other Venezuelan migrants. There, she waited for her family to gather enough money to buy them flights home.

A sister had arrived in Florida a few months before, after turning herself in at the border, and told Ms. Cuauro that she was racing to find someone who would sponsor them under the new entry program, before all the slots were filled.

Sarah, struggling with a cold, roamed listlessly around the shelter.

Of the journey that had ended there — the mud, the rivers, the terrifying nights without her mother — she said, she remembered 'everything.'"

This journey was never a choice Alexandra wanted to make—she loves her home country and was an accomplished middle-class mom—but her world collapsed around her. She was, and is, determined through sheer grit, faith, and courage to do whatever it takes to build a better life for her daughter, and we are trying to help her do that, supporting her efforts to come to the US legally and safely. We are going to be her sponsors. But we need your help to make this happen.

Please help us give this courageous mother and her daughter a second chance.

*Cover photo, photos included in excerpt from The New York Times, taken by Federico Rios, a photographer for The New York Times. Italic excerpts and quoted background excerpts excerpted from original NY Times article. Other photos provided by Alexandra Cuauro and family.