Aunt of Venezuelan Boy Rescued from Rubble Shares Her Story
The aunt of a two-year-old boy who was rescued after spending six days trapped under rubble in Venezuela has expressed her joy at being reunited with her nephew and her hope that his parents might still be found.
Kleiber Moran was pulled from the debris of his home in Venezuela's northern La Guaira state by Jordanian rescuers early on Tuesday.
Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodríguez described the rescue as a "source of hope for our people" amid a rising death toll from two major earthquakes that struck last Wednesday.
Andreína Sarmiento's Commitment to Kleiber
The boy's aunt, 23-year-old Andreína Sarmiento, told the BBC she would
"take care of Kleiber with a mother's warmth until my sister appears, which is what we long for".
"I'm praying a lot to God to give me strength because he is only two years old and I am not a mother,"she said, sitting at Kleiber's bedside and holding his hand in a hospital in the capital Caracas.
"It hurts me a lot because my sister always used to tell me that he is my son, and now it's like she's handing him over to me and saying 'this is your son, he is your responsibility',"she added.
When a friend called Andreína from La Guaira to inform her of Kleiber's rescue, she fell to the floor, screamed, and wept before rushing to meet him.
She mentioned that rescuers from the UK had also attempted to reach Kleiber before the Jordanian team succeeded.
Family and Hospital Details
Kleiber is seen in a family photo with his mother Ana Luz and father Carlos, who remain missing.
When reunited, Kleiber looked at Andreína and immediately said
"she Auntie".
Andreína described Kleiber as being
"in a state of shock, screaming and screaming"upon arrival at the hospital. However, he slept through the night and by Wednesday
"he had stabilised".
"Today he's giving me little kisses, he talks to me, he tells me where it hurts,"she said.
As she spoke, Kleiber lay beside her, wrapped in a Spiderman blanket and surrounded by toys, pushing a small car around the bed. He was in a ward with other children who had also survived the earthquakes.
"He doesn't even have a single fracture. Everything is very good. All he has are some scratches here on his arms and on his legs, but nothing more,"Andreína told the BBC with a broad smile.
Despite her happiness at being reunited with her nephew, Andreína expressed pain over not being able to find her sister.
Family Bonds and Memories
Andreína and her older sister, Kleiber's mother Ana Luz, were extremely close and communicated daily via video calls. Ana Luz always kept Kleiber by her side.
"Wherever she went, her son went too. Whatever Kleiber wanted, she would please him. If she didn't have money, she would call me: 'Kleiber wants this' or 'he's missing this',"Andreína recalled.
"She is my older sister and I always trusted her and could tell her my problems and whenever I spoke to her on a video call, the child was by her side."
Andreína is certain that her sister was with Kleiber when the rubble collapsed.
Ongoing Rescue Efforts and Casualties
As Andreína sat with her nephew in the hospital, search and rescue operations continued following the earthquakes.
Officially, 2,295 deaths have been recorded, but the final toll is expected to be significantly higher. Tens of thousands remain missing, and the United Nations has announced it is procuring 10,000 body bags for Venezuela.
Andreína remains hopeful that Kleiber's parents will be found.
"Just as they found my nephew, I have faith that they are going to find my sister and my brother-in-law,"she said.
Looking affectionately at Kleiber, she expressed her belief that
"he has a purpose in the world".
"When this child grows up, God willing, this will be his story,"she concluded.
Additional reporting by Euridice Ledezma
