Samsara Galore: Adrianas brev om situationen för hennes familj i Venezuela

My country, my family

Yes, it's all true, sad but everything is true. Hunger, deaths due to lack of medicines, lack of attention on time, lack of water, electricity, everything is missing. Everything is missing in a country where at one time there was nothing missing, where prosperity was so great that people were going to Miami for a weekend to buy clothes. A country where two normal people who got married had the opportunity to buy a house and see 4 children raised and have them study. Those two people, for example, where my parents. Married in the late sixties; Mom and dad decided to start a family, so my older brother Gilberto was born. Presently 50 years old, he was a difficult child with many behavioral problems that in his adolescence after various crises resulted in a diagnosed schizophrenia for which he has to take a life long treatment. A little more than a year later the first female Norys, a sweet and shy girl was born. She took a major study in two careers (education and social assistance) and then worked as a teacher in a public school and recently obtained her postgraduate specialization. She is also a religious woman and very very kind. My sister runs the house after my mother's death. After that Liliana, the second female was born. As a child she was called "the little fatty" for being more plump than the others, A simple girl, a little rebellious teenager who married and had two girls before she divorced- She is a lawyer and currentlyworks at the Court of Caracas. Her daughters are first Orianna, 20 years old and she have the Asperger Syndrome, she is a very sweet girl and is a good designer, that currently studies arts at the university. My other nephew is Fabiana, she is 16 years old and she is a high school student. After almost 6 years I arrived, Adriana the youngest, lover of the arts and sciences, I graduated as a biologist in Venezuela, I worked in different laboratories and then I emigrated from the country to go to study my doctorate in Chile. While I was in Chile I meet my husband, Tobia, a genuine napolitan and that is why I am here today. Life is not easy for the one who emigrates and it generally end up working on anything else totally different from what you studied.

Living outside my country when it has been falling apart for a long time has been very hard and has worsened over the years. For almost 20 years Venezuela has been in the hands of a criminal- drug dealing government that has been responsible for destroying it in every way. I have had to witness the terrible transformation from the Venezuela in which I grew up and in which I studied,

Despite being people with university degrees, the situation of my family is very bad, the live all together and with a total average salary of approximately 40 euros per month and these are well below the threshold of extreme poverty, set by the World Bank at $ 1.90 per day. That is, any person living on less than 57 dollars or 48 euros per month is considered below the threshold of extreme poverty.

This latest rise is in the midst of a serious economic crisis and galloping inflation: the IMF projects it at 10,000,000% by 2019. The shortage of medicines, food and necessities is the order of the day. This is the reason why every day a lot of people leaves Venezuela to search a new life in another country.

Examples of the prices in Venezuela:

1 kg meat = 2.5 euro

200 g bread = 1,5 euro

1 toothpaste = 2 euro

1 kg chicken = 2,5 euro

Local Cheese (1kg) = 2.85 euro

1 lt corn oil = 3 euro

1pair of jeans = 44,46 $ *

Apartment (1 bedroom) in City centre = 180 euro *

Average monthly net salary (after tax) = 22,58 $ *

Unfortunately, I am the only one of my family that lives outside the country, and it is not possible to help another six people who need a minimum income of 400 euros a month to be able to live. This year my sister Norys was also diagnosed with a health problem, which requires surgery and recently my father (86 years old) went to the hospital for a stomachache, the doctor told him that he was malnourished and should eat better. They have also many domestic problems in the house that make everyday life difficult, the fridge is broken and also the washing machine. The cost of on a new fridge is about 400 euros so it cost 10 times the total of the salary of my family! This is why I have nothing left but to ask for help, because although I work I cannot help them as I would like..

*Source: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Venezuela

The other data comes from my family

Many thanks for your attention.

Regards

Adriana