Delrin Chavarría arrived in Darién in June 2021, hired by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) as a specialist in water, sanitation and hygiene.A member of an indigenous community in Nicaragua, he grew up on land with poor infrastructure that led him to migrate.Today he helps those who, like him, move in search of a better future.In a historic moment, in the midst of a pandemic, more than 125,000 migrants have crossed the jungle between Panama and Colombia.Faced with this unexpected increase in the migratory flow, especially of children who numbered more than 28,000 as of November 2021, organizations and teams have accompanied the state response, increasing their services to save lives.In the midst of the humanitarian crisis and in commemoration of International Migrants' Day, which is celebrated on December 18, we publish the story of one of them, who has become a support for others who, like him, seek a better future, guaranteeing the supply of drinking water to nearly 70,000 people throughout this year.The story of Delrin Chavarría, to which La Estrella de Panamá had access, is a sign of solidarity and love for others.It is 8:00 in the morning on a Thursday in Darien.The sun has not yet burned when Delrin Chavarría begins the routine that she obsesses over every day at this time: she writes from her cell phone to the technicians on her team to check if the water pumps are working, if there is enough water stored to filter and if there is of the drink available to drink.He mentions things like “decantation”, “filtration” and “chlorination” as he gets into the car and heads towards Lajas Blancas, one of the three migratory reception stations (ERM) where in a few more hours hundreds of migrants who cross the jungle will arrive. for days, dodging the wild rivers, the impossible hills, the wild animals and armed gangs that abound in the natural border between Colombia and Panama."People, especially children, arrive here exhausted, weak, sick after so many days in the jungle barely eating and drinking polluted water from the rivers," says Delrin as he enters the ERM, tinted by the golden morning light. .They need drinking water, attention, to be received with some humanity.Delrin is a tall and kind man who arrived here in June 2021 hired by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) to do what he does now: maintain and grow a system that allows drinking water for migrants in Darién. .Born in Karatá, Puerto Cabezas, an indigenous community on the margins of Nicaragua, and a migrant himself, he knows about shortages and about moving in search of a future.In the community where he grew up – a corner of natural beauty in the Nicaraguan Caribbean – they collected rainwater because there was no other way to get it.There was also no school beyond primary school, so at the age of 12 Delrin left for the city."It was like another world," he remembers with a smile.In those communities you go to classes barefoot and in shorts, in the city you had to wear shoes.Since then, he has not stopped moving or studying: one scholarship allowed him to go to university in the capital of his country, another to pursue a master's degree in risk management and, after some work in humanitarian assistance and conservation that took him all over the Caribbean coast, crossed the ocean to continue training in Europe.“I am part of that migration because I am looking for better opportunities to have happiness, well-being, joy,” says Delrin.“Being indigenous, the opportunities are few, in my area drug trafficking is very high and I had ambitions, curiosity to go out and see the world.I didn't want to stay, get stuck,” he says.And he didn't stall.In 2018, Delrin traveled to Spain to pursue a postgraduate degree in water, sanitation and hygiene with a focus on emergency contexts at the University of Alcalá.Then he Milan, in Italy, for a master's degree in cooperation with a focus on development, water and sanitation.His last stop, before arriving in Panama, was South Sudan, where he led a study on water.Water is one of his obsessions: he grew up without it and knows that it is essential."My grandmother's suffering each year, that she raised me, was that," he says.There is no drinking water connection in the community.That is why when Delrin arrived in Darién, in mid-2021, the territory seemed familiar to him: a geography surrounded by indigenous communities like his, to work with migrants like him on the issue that most obsesses him: water and sanitation.Within a few hours he understood that this was part of the broken continent, without infrastructure: there are communities without drinking water, searching the nearby river is a bad idea because it is not clean and the rain is abundant, but it is not stored or filtered."It was terrible," he says.The children arrived, like now, with colic, skin fungus, gastrointestinal problems, and they had no water to drink or to wash.To assist migrant children and adolescents and their families who cross the Darién jungle, in 2019 Unicef ​​involved other organizations and established a cooperation agreement with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).Then the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project was born, with the installation of an emergency kit for the provision of water.The organization had a presence in Darién since 2018 with child health, nutrition, protection and recreation programs, implemented with partners and in coordination with government institutions to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in Panama, regardless of their nationality, where they come from or immigration status.These services have been provided by the organization for three years with funds from the United States Government, and more recently, from the European Union.But very quickly the demand increased.People who crossed the border went from 9,222 in 2018 to about 24,000 in 2019 and more than 120,000 this year (2021), of which about 26,000 were children.The migratory flow multiplied, so Unicef ​​and its partners in 2020 converted the emergency team into a medium/long-term water treatment plant.A year later Delrin was hired as a specialist.Together with the team that works with him, he is responsible for producing all the drinking water that migrant families and those in host communities need to hydrate, bathe, cook or brush their teeth."They need to rest, heal, get their strength back," says Delrin.To be treated with dignity and humanity.The hours go by in Lajas Blancas, it is almost noon and Delrin has just coordinated with the National Border Service (Senafront in charge of the ERM), the cleaning actions. In addition to access to drinking water, WASH includes cleaning actions, such as recycling of waste, sanitation and also hygiene: showers, portable toilets, hand washing points.In Lajas Blancas there are many garbage cans, tents scattered around areas where families rest, feed their children or cook, and a medical care center where there is now a queue.For all this they need water.Sitting in front of a store, near the showers, is Mía, a Haitian woman who came from Brazil and is putting things away to go bathe her son."She came wanting water," she says, carrying the child.It was very hard to be in the jungle for so many days without water and it is refreshing to find it here.Water is life and now we can continue.A little further, near the water treatment plant, Delrin checks if there is enough water stored to make it drinkable so that Mia, her son and hundreds of other migrants can bathe.He checks, takes his cell phone, opens an application and points to the humanitarian software they use to keep statistics: 12,474 liters of drinking water for 732 people today, with 28 portable toilets and three washing points in operation.Result: All those who arrived were able to drink and clean themselves.“Seeing the children here bathing, drinking water, running and enjoying themselves gives me a unique pride,” says Delrin.In the Darién jungle, migrants are particularly exposed to violence, including sexual abuse, trafficking and extortion by criminal gangs.They are also at risk for diarrhea, respiratory illnesses, dehydration, and other ailments that require immediate attention.C/ Alejandro A. Duque G. - Apartado 0815-00507, Zone 4Cover of the form of June 15, 2022Subscribe to our newsletter Receive daily news directly in your email