{"id":11300,"date":"2025-10-13T18:48:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/?p=11300"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:40:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:40:28","slug":"to-the-rhythm-of-the-veda-al-ritmo-de-la-veda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/to-the-rhythm-of-the-veda-al-ritmo-de-la-veda","title":{"rendered":"To the Rhythm of the veda – Al ritmo de la veda"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first, going to Barranquitas felt like stepping into the world of Mad Max<\/em>. The heat, the dust, the precariousness, the sense that everything could fall apart at any moment. But over time, something shifted. Maybe it was accepting my mission\u2014to help and inspire. Maybe it was realizing that in Barranquitas, I am more myself. More of a helper. More human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this small town in Zulia, time isn\u2019t measured by clocks, but by labor. The rhythm is set by the lake, the moon, the heat\u2014and above all, by the veda, the seasonal fishing ban. When the lake goes quiet, the town listens. Nets are pulled in, motors shut down, and the community folds inward. In that silence, Barranquitas reveals itself\u2014in its customs, its gestures, its resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days begin before sunrise. Crab fishers leave at five in the morning and return late in the afternoon. Shrimp fishers rise at two or three a.m., come back around eight or nine, then head out again in the evening, returning between nine and ten at night. Fishers who go after larger catches leave on Monday mornings and don\u2019t return until Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. These extreme schedules wear down the body\u2014and the mind. Sleep deprivation, constant stress, and the pressure to feed a family shape the character of the men in town. In that environment, toughness is the norm. Interaction between men happens through labor, through shared effort. Tenderness, though it exists, often hides behind exhaustion and habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even in moments of trouble kids remain always curious. PHOTO by Gindel Delgado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The veda is not just a pause\u2014it\u2019s a time of fear. Families prepare during the active months, storing food, building reserves, hoping it will be enough. But it often isn\u2019t. The veda signals hunger, anxiety for mothers, and a test for everyone. During those months, uncertainty settles into homes. Women, who already carry the weight of daily life, must stretch themselves even further. They care for children, cook, clean, pray. But they also bear the emotional burden of waiting, of silence, of worry. And while many have grown up believing their place is in the kitchen, in child-rearing, in church, some have broken that mold. Women who study, who work, who fish, who bring food home. Women who have become heroines\u2014bathing patients, treating wounds, responding to the needs of others with action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While boats wait for the next season people adjust to the rhythms they impose. PHOTO by Gindel Delgado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In Barranquitas, daily life tastes like arepas, like coffee strained through cloth, like fried fish when the veda is lifted. Women cook with what\u2019s available\u2014and what\u2019s available is shared. Religion coexists with natural medicine, and prayers blend with herbal infusions gathered from the hills. Celebrations are simple but meaningful. A birthday can be a communal event, and mourning, a collective embrace that lasts for days. Children play in the dirt, teenagers gather on corners to talk, and elders tell stories that mix memory with legend. The heat is relentless\u2014and if you wear too much makeup, the day will melt it off your face. There\u2019s no room for appearances here. Life is lived as it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even health is lived with urgency. Medications like quetiapine can be bought without a prescription. In local shops, it\u2019s sold like any other item. It\u2019s a reality that speaks to both informality and necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deeply proud<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Barranquitas is a town that looks at itself honestly. Its people are self-critical, but also deeply proud. Solidarity is a defining trait. There are stories of people who crossed the Dari\u00e9n Gap, the Rio Grande, the dangers of Mexico\u2014waiting for fellow Barranquitas migrants. No hardship seems too great. A jungle is nothing. From the outside, people judge quickly. They talk about broken homes, about violence used to teach or to control others, without realizing that sometimes, it\u2019s all people have ever known. But a man who wakes at extreme hours, who faces the sun, the storms, the waterspouts, and who is still known for his generosity\u2014for walking across a continent to bring food to his family\u2014holds deep values. They just need to be guided, recognized, supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Playing time even when there is not much food. PHOTO by Gindel Delgado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I remember when we started making friends in town, everyone would wait for the bus because they knew we were coming. I\u2019ll never forget Franklin Soto, one of three brothers who traveled to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. Every time he knew we were visiting, he\u2019d wait at the entrance of town to greet us with a hug, to help carry chairs, bags of food, medicine\u2014to smile. He is the perfect example of Barranquitas\u2019 solidarity, and of what I\u2019ve learned there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe Factor H\u2019s present mission must be to show that there are other ways to live, to grow, to become women, to become men. That education must matter again. That we must break the tradition that says the only way to succeed is to be a fisherman, a casero (someone who transports goods to processing plants), or a beach owner (who manages small docking areas). Just as I, someone from Caracas, had the chance to see the capital, to travel to Europe, to work with people from other countries\u2014so too can the children, parents, grandparents, the aunts and uncles of Barranquitas, discover the value of learning, of opening their minds, of knowing. It\u2019s not just about going to school, passing classes, and graduating. It\u2019s about understanding the power of real knowledge\u2014the kind that breaks the grip of those who seek to manipulate, who want us limited. And this is not a criticism of the fisherman\u2019s life. It\u2019s a reflection of the responsibility of those of us who\u2019ve been more fortunate. Even I, living in another state, but in the same country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be called “Barranquitero”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now, my friends joke that I\u2019m a true Barranquitero. At first, it was just a joke. Now it\u2019s real. Because I\u2019ve come to realize\u2014it\u2019s not an honor for them to call me that. It\u2019s an honor for me to be called Barranquitero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, I move to the rhythm of the veda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first, going to Barranquitas felt like stepping into the world of Mad Max. The heat, the dust, the precariousness, the sense that everything could fall apart at any moment. But over time, something shifted. Maybe it was accepting my mission\u2014to help and inspire. Maybe it was realizing that in Barranquitas, I am more myself. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,47,63,9,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barranquitas","category-caregivers-training","category-community-development","category-general-news","category-venezuela-countries"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11300"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11311,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300\/revisions\/11311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factor-h.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}