Venezuelan Expats Begin Mapping Themselves with Online Census Survey 

You may have met Lucia in our recent “Expat Next Door” feature on her. The Venezuelan expat has lived and worked in Prague for over 10 years and has founded an association to help her fellow Venezuelans acclimate to life in the Czech Republic and begin mapping their demographic needs.

Last August, Lucia along with a few friends, founded La Casa Venezolana en Chequia (the Venezuelan House in Czechia) and registered it as a civil association as Prague still has no Venezuelan embassy. 

“The objectives of our association covers areas such as educational, cultural, as well as assistance and support. Our first big project for 2021 is to “map” the Venezuelan community in the Czech Republic to determine how many we are, how we are geographically distributed, our needs, our profiles, we believe that the best way to serve our community is by knowing it,” said Lucia.

In the hopes of attracting more Venezuelan expats to join the association or simply offer their input, La Casa Venezolana en Chequia is conducting an online survey as a “census”  of sorts to assess some of the needs of Venezuelans residing in the Czech Republic as well as other demographic data. 

The survey began last week and will remain active until Mar, 31 and everyone is encouraged to notify any Venezuelans they might know about the survey. 

In recent years Venezuela has spiraled into a humanitarian crisis as the country has been devastated by shortages of food and basic supplies, political power struggles, and global sanctions that have only worsened the crisis. 

More than 5 million people have since left Venezuela in search of other prospects. 

“Millions of Venezuelans have had to leave the country to be able to look for new life opportunities or even as a necessity to earn money to support the ones they had to leave behind,” Lucia said.

Although La Casa Venezolana en Chequia are still a new association, Lucia hopes the expat community will continue to come together with the shared vision of preserving their culture and traditions where ever they go and for future generations of Venezuelans living abroad.