For Those Who Wear The Brand
Global Aid Projects

This is Germán, a beloved member of his community, as he is known for his altruistic spirit and noble heart.



However, like the rest of them, he struggles to buy food.

Germán gets up early to go to the city's garbage dumps and help clean them in order to get some kind of compensation, but there are days when he doesn't get any help at all. It is on those days that Germán, with a heavy heart in his chest, must rummage through the garbage to find food for his 4 children.



The economic crisis in Venezuela makes it difficult for Germán's entire community to buy food, as there are not enough jobs available (and those that are do not pay enough). Some are luckier than others, but all are exposed to gastrointestinal illnesses from having to eat whatever leftovers they are able to find.

To make matters worse, Germán has no access to clean or potable water, nor does he have the resources to buy medicines to cure the gastrointestinal illnesses that affect his family as a result of the scraps they are forced to eat and the contaminated water they have to drink.

The diseases his community frequently has to deal with are dysentery and parasitosis. They often cause loss of fluids and electrolytes and make people feel weak, dizzy, and tired. Besides, with diarrhea, the intestines rush things through too quickly, and this makes it harder for the body to absorb nutrients from food.

Since they have no access to medicines, healthy food or clean water to prevent these diseases, recurrent diarrhea has taken several members of their community.

Last year, Germán was picked up off the street by a supposed humanitarian commission that sought to help the homeless elderly, but instead of offering help, they put him through one of the most difficult moments of his life.

Germán was held against his will for 8 days, without being fed and unable to have contact with his family. All of his children are minors, and he is their only parent in the picture, so they had nothing to eat during those 8 days, without even being able to attend school and with an atrocious uncertainty about their father's whereabouts.

Although Germán was fortunately able to return home, he has become very distrustful of people who claim to want to help him, which has made his situation even more difficult.

That's why it was a little hard to approach him.



But once we explained to him that we bought food for his family to eat for a full month (including fruits, proteins and carbohydrates), we saw his eyes become watery and heard his voice fill with joy.



For Germán, every single day that he sees each member of his community struggling to survive and provide for their family is proof that he is surrounded by the strongest people in the world.



When Germán encounters particularly difficult times, he closes his eyes, remembers the good old days and prays to God for them to return. He doesn't allow himself to give up because his children deserve a father who will fight for them.

Germán's greatest hope is to be able to educate his kids so they can have successful careers and a better life than his own.

His children are his hope, source of strength and daily driving force. Germán is convinced that he came into this world to raise them and see them grow into amazing people.

If Germán could convey a message to the whole world, he would tell them that life in Venezuela is very hard and that every day of his life he fears for the well-being of his family, but it wasn’t always like that. Venezuela is a wonderful country and he is hopeful that it will return to being the place where he grew up as the happiest of children.

What his entire community yearns for with all their hearts is access to well-paid jobs, but he thinks it all starts with help like the one we gave him.

With tears in his eyes, Germán says that this proves there are good people in the world and he just has to keep persisting because he is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.



Germán believes that thanks to the food we gave him, his family will not have to worry about an empty stomach, or getting sick, for a whole month, and they will finally be able to start saving to put their dreams into action.