Alfonso Mendoza was born without legs to the world, but he never allowed himself to. The 25-Year-old Skateboarder, Surfer and Rapper, and recently, father. “To be without legs, born, is hard, but you should not give up. You have to fight, the Positive to see,” says Mendoza. “I have not, however, always thought so. I wanted to take my life.”
As hundreds of thousands of his countrymen, the Venezuelans against Hunger, misery and oppression, had fled to his native Venezuela. Nine months ago, he came with his pregnant wife on hidden paths to Colombia. In September his daughter Auralys arrived in Barranquilla to the world.
Better than Venezuela
“she is my sunshine. My Baby relies on me and that’s why I go to work every day with joy,” says Mendoza. On a Skateboard he rolls out as a Rapper “Alca” on the streets of the port city Milanobet and sings in the bus for a small tip. About 30 000 Pesos (8,50 euros) he earned as a day.
Mendoza and his family have just come over the rounds, but it’s better than in Venezuela it is all. In the oil-richest country in the world it is most Needed is missing. Venezuela is in a severe economic crisis. From the lack of foreign Exchange are unlikely to imported food and drugs. In the supermarkets, the shelves remain mostly empty.
Fullscreen
Alfonso Mendoza with his Skateboard
©Natalia Ortiz Mantilla DPA
The International monetary Fund (IMF) expects for the current year with an inflation rate of 1.37 million percent, and a decline in economic output by 18 percent. According to the United Nations, around 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their home. About a Million people have settled in the neighboring country of Colombia.