Alba’s Story, Venezuela
Alba Marcellán, Associate Protection Officer at UNHCR Venezuela, with refugees and asylum seekers at activities carried out by UNHCR and its partners on World Refugee Day. June 2014/ACNUR/T. Font
Born in Spain, Alba began working with refugee communities in 2002, as an intern with the lawyers’ team of the Spanish Commission for Assisting Refugees in Madrid. Her motivation: contributing to solutions for those who, after being forced to flee their home country, try to restart their life. She is currently Associate Protection Officer at UNHCR Venezuela. Among her responsibilities, she registers and provides legal orientation to persons persecuted in their home country who are seeking international protection in Venezuela. She also coordinates humanitarian assistance for the refugee community with UNHCR partner organizations. In Venezuela, 98% of the refugees come from Colombia.
“One of the things that I admire the refugees I have met for is their strength and courage to keep looking ahead despite all the pain they have gone through”. She remembers in particular when María*, a Colombian refugee, gave her a smile for the first time, after her case was accepted for resettlement due to the difficulties she was facing in her local integration efforts. “Not only because she was having a new opportunity, but also because she just learned that she was pregnant. So she thought that her son could have a childhood in peace, one she never had”.
Alba Marcellán
Associate Protection Officer at UNHCR, Venezuela
*Name changed for protection reasons.
