On Barely Getting By in Argentina
Nidia Quiroga (right): 'You see me here digging through the garbage -- what else can I say? I have to choose between feeding my children or clothing them. If they don't have clothes, they can't go to school. My husband is too old to work now; he's in his 50's. In this country, once you reach 40 or 50, it's just time to die. And children are supposed to stop growing when they're 6 or 7. Today it's impossible to get milk for a baby! It takes me an hour, but sometimes I walk to the office of social services to see if they can help me. They never have anything. Now there are going to be elections. But why should we waste our time and energy to go and cast a vote? To elect another delinquent to office? There are times when I want to pick up and go, just pack everything up and leave here. I don't know where to.'
Sandra Romero (center, back): 'We were just waking up in the morning. The kids were having their milk. We have a permit to run a soup kitchen here. For about two years, we were able to keep it going, and we fed 120 children once a day, outside on our patio. But it's impossible now because we don't have the resources even to feed ourselves. Nobody has an income. Some parents, I've learned in the past year, are very selfish. They can't buy their children milk, but they always have a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of wine. I don't want to judge anyone, but it's the little ones who really need the nutrition. The kids still come sometimes and say, 'Sandra, will you give me some milk?' It breaks my heart.'
Ana Laura Perez (center): 'It's crazy to think that I live in a small, modest home. I don't have a car, and I've lost all my savings, but I'm still in the top 10 percent of the income bracket in Argentina -- just because I have a job and I haven't had my salary reduced. It's not that I'm not optimistic about the future for myself or my children. But it's very hard to find rational strategies to protect ourselves from the increasing crime and violence. One can be patriotic but not in an illogical way. There's a strong tendency in European immigrant families like mine to really take root here. But I tell my children that someday we might go to Europe, reversing the path that my great-grandparents took when they came here. For me, it's not only a real possibility but a desire.'
interviews by Susan Gotthelf
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 9-1-02: WHAT THEY WERE THINKING