“When they see an indigenous community promoter who speaks their language, they feel happy"

Ronaldo Moya Palacio is a community promoter for UNICEF's implementing partner Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Educación Integral (ASEINC), and lives in the indigenous community of El Moriche, located in the municipality of Tucupita, Delta Amacuro state. In El Moriche, UNICEF developed a holistic approach to address the different needs of children through integrated interventions in health, nutrition, child protection, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

"I am a promoter in my community, El Moriche. I guide and train children, adolescents, and their families on child protection issues, including the importance of having an identity document," says Ronaldo.

Ronaldo travelled to San Francisco de Guayo aboard the fluvial clinic type II Delta del Orinoco, which provides health, nutrition, and WASH services. "I had not seen the hospital boat before. I was not aware of it, but when I entered, to my surprise, it had bathrooms, dormitories, kitchen, everything in perfect condition," he comments. To get to San Francisco de Guayo, Ronaldo and the health team had to sail for more than 30 hours.

UNICEF Venezuela continues to support the hospital boat under the leadership of local authorities to ensure access to health services, even in the most remote and hard-to-reach areas. The work benefits more than 320 indigenous Warao river communities of about 40,000 inhabitants.

"This experience here in San Francisco de Guayo... I never thought I would make it this far, but thanks to the UNICEF team, together with ASEINC, I had the opportunity to help with translation (Warao to Spanish), recreational activities for the community and explanations about the importance of the right to identity," he says. On this journey, people from neighbouring areas also attended.

For Ronaldo, one of his greatest motivations is knowing that the people of these communities identify with him because they are of the same ethnic group (Warao). "When they see a promoter speaking in their language, they feel happy and confident because they grew up in isolated areas without the opportunity to speak or understand Spanish properly," he says eagerly.

Games and activities were also held while the hospital boat was in San Francisco de Guayo, where children and adolescents learned about their rights while playing. "The most fun games so far have been football and volleyball because children and adolescents exercise their whole body," says Ronaldo.

"This experience has been wonderful; we have an excellent team at the birth registry that is up to date with the delivery of documents. We also have doctors who are very excited, like me, to be able to help this community. I am also very proud to be able to understand the needs of my Warao people," says Ronaldo, a big smile on his face.