Warao children in Trinidad’s southwestern peninsula are living in squalor, running barefoot along the beach, their tiny feet covered in blisters and sores.
None are enrolled in school, and the older ones over the age of ten help their parents with work in the small fishing huts near the coast. Others play in the abandoned coconut estates on the coast.
When Guardian Media visited Icacos, some of the children were playing in the sand. Others were seen playing on the floating door of an old fridge in the waters of the beach.
A fisherman who spoke to Guardian Media on the condition of anonymity described the Warao as “simple people” who, even in Venezuela, never had access to formal education. The Warao people are a primarily Venezuelan Indigenous group.
“They are not like the Spanish, the wealthier ones,” he said. “They are the river folks. They come here in small boats, and some of them used to go back before all this patrol started,” he said.
He took us inside a doorless plywood shack where a Warao woman was cooking flat bread on a stovetop with beans simmering in a pot. A child no older than 10 played on a dirty mattress inside, while another lounged in a hammock. None could speak English. Their clothes were strung from lines all around the huts. Behind one of the shacks, a girl drew water using a bucket and a rope from inside a well.
Former president of the Pharmacy Association and activist Wazir Hosein was seen on the beach distributing drinks to some of the people. He described the situation as alarming, saying the children had a right to get food, clothing, education, and proper shelter.
“I have always advocated that one of the simple solutions is to create a separate school for the Venezuelan children,” he said. “There are people among them who may have been teachers back home, and you can integrate them in that context. Otherwise, you have a language barrier and other challenges.”
Hosein said that Venezuelan children could be accommodated at the Icacos Government School, but so far, no formal measures have been implemented.
“For the students, strictly for them, you’d be able to deliver a certain level of education,” Hosein said. “We have failed — and I don’t want to say for 10 years, but you know that we have. A lot of these children are living under poor conditions with limited healthcare. Many are young girls, and some are also pregnant. The situation is not getting better.”
Vena Edwards, a resident near the beach, said the children sometimes receive donations from Good Samaritans who come to distribute food and supplies. Her son, Candy Edwards, described how Warao women give birth in the sea or in the huts without medical assistance.
“They don’t go for medical attention,” he said. “They go right there in the water and have the babies,” he said.
Among the children living in the makeshift huts was two-year-old Abram Silva. Playing with a toy, his skin was covered with warts, and his silky brown hair was unkempt. Living in an extended family, Edwards said Abram and the other children rely on the support of local Trinidadian fishermen for food and shelter.
Meanwhile, Angie Ramnarine, coordinator of the La Romaine Migrant Support Group, said the Warao children speak a distinct tribal language, which can make communication and schooling difficult.
“It’s sometimes hard to understand them,” she said, “but they still need education, nutrition, and healthcare like any other child.”
But Councillor for Cedros Shankar Teelucksingh said the UNHCR. Living Water and the US Southern Command have been lending humanitarian aid to the Warao children over the years. He said the population has increased over the past few years, adding that a coordinated effort had been made to improve their living conditions.
UNHCR data indicates that over 29,000 Venezuelans applied for refugee status in Trinidad and Tobago in 2024, with approximately 4,000 children included in previous counts up to 2023. Despite this growing population, the Warao remain among the most vulnerable, living without basic services and largely invisible to the wider society.
Guardian Media reached out to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath, and we are awaiting their responses.
