The walker says his name is Enrique Lugo, but that everyone calls him Christopher. When asked about the small dog beside him, Christopher says he adopted her after finding the animal abandoned. “I called her Troya because she is like a Trojan horse,” he says. “And there’s no better friend than a puppy.”
Christopher's is a story of struggle and despair, like that of millions of migrants worldwide. But it is also a story of fierce will and determination.
He had travelled nearly 600 kilometres to the Colombian capital, Bogotá, when he received news that a tattoo machine was finally available to purchase at a bargain price in his hometown, San Cristóbal. He decided to return home to buy the machine, believing it would help him set up a new business in Colombia.
With a lump in his throat, Christopher describes the moment he was reunited with his mother in San Cristóbal, and then the pain of having to be separated from her once again. But now, with his tattooing machine, he feels much better equipped to survive the nearly 6,000-kilometre journey to the Chilean border, which he says he is taking “step by step”.
Walking with Christopher and Troya is Kember, a Venezuelan man in his thirties, whose story also reflects the determination and courage shown by so many refugees struggling for a better life in the face of adversity.
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