The aunt of two-year-old Kleiber Moran, who was miraculously pulled from the rubble of his home in Venezuela's La Guaira state after six days, has told the BBC she is overjoyed to be reunited with her nephew - and is now essentially signing up for an instant parenting gig she didn't audition for.
Kleiber was rescued early Tuesday by Jordanian rescuers, prompting Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodríguez to declare the rescue a 'source of hope for our people,' because nothing says hope like a rising death toll from two major earthquakes last Wednesday.
The boy's aunt, 23-year-old Andreína Sarmiento, told the BBC from a hospital in Caracas that she would 'take care of Kleiber with a mother's warmth until my sister appears, which is what we long for.' She added, 'I'm praying a lot to God to give me strength because he is only two years old and I am not a mother.' At least she's honest about the job description.
When a friend phoned to tell her Kleiber had been found, Andreína fell to the floor, screamed, and wept - which is the appropriate response to learning a toddler has survived under rubble for nearly a week, not to be confused with winning the lottery.
She said rescuers from the UK also tried to reach him before the Jordanian team succeeded. When reunited, Kleiber looked at her and immediately said 'she Auntie,' demonstrating that even two-year-olds have better name recall than most adults at family reunions.
Andreína said Kleiber arrived at the hospital in a 'state of shock, screaming and screaming,' but slept through the night and by Wednesday 'he had stabilised.' Today, she reports, 'he's giving me little kisses, he talks to me, he tells me where it hurts.' He also currently lies wrapped in a Spiderman blanket, surrounded by toys, pushing a small car around the bed - because even post-earthquake survival comes with a side of playtime.
Remarkably, Kleiber has 'not even 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. Meanwhile, the official death toll stands at 2,295, but the final number is expected to be many times higher. The United Nations is procuring 10,000 body bags - a grim reminder that hope can only stretch so far.
Andreína remains hopeful that Kleiber's parents - her sister Ana Luz, 31, and brother-in-law - will also be found alive. '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 at Kleiber, she believes 'he has a purpose in the world. When this child grows up, God willing, this will be his story.' For now, it's a story of a toddler, an aunt, and a Spiderman blanket, all clinging to the idea that sometimes, rubble doesn't win.