Hello, my name is Carmen (she/her). I’m 23 years old, and I need help to leave my country, Venezuela.
(Some info about myself: I have a B.Ed. in Spanish and Literature, and I’m currently working as a news editor)
The following is a lot to take in, but bare with me.
As some of you may know, Venezuela is in a deep economic, political, and humanitarian crisis due to the low oil prices, the devaluation of out currency and a corrupt government that doesn’t know how to handle the nation.
Our currency, the bolívar fuerte, is practically worthless. Here, one (1) dollar is worth around 100.000 Bs. f. the minimum wage is 456.507 Bs. f. a month. I, a full time worker (8 hours per day), make less than 5 dollars a month.
Because the national production is dead, almost everything is imported. Which means the cost of products depends on the value of the $. So basic goods can cost half your salary.
All of this, of course, increases the violence, insecurity and corruption rates as well. Caracas (our capital), Valencia and Maturín made it to the top 10 “most violent cities in the world”. Cumaná (Where I live) is number 24.
Basically, you can’t own anything without being at risk of getting robbed/kidnaped/killed, you can’t save money because the devaluation/inflation moves too fast, you can’t eat well because you can’t afford it, you can’t get sick becausethere’s no medicine and hospitals are in shambles.
We literallydon’t even have cash,because we need too many bills to buy anything and the demand is too high.
(The photo below is from the San Cristóbal terminal. A bus loads people who travel to the Colombian border. 12/07/2017)
I stayed for the longest, hopeful that maybe things would change, but nothing happened and things are just getting worse.
For that and more, I, along with two close friends, have decided to leave Venezuela and settle in Perú, to help our families from outside.
“The bolivar is so devalued that sending only a fraction of a month’s salary to a relative in Venezuela can amount to millions of bolivars. For example, the minimum wage in Peru is around US $250. If you send your relative about US $10, they would have three minimum wage monthly salaries” (x).
But before all that we need money. At least $1.500 to pay for the travel (on bus/ 4 days aprox.) and to cover the expenses of a month stay (until we stabilize) in Perú.
So, that’s it. Any little help is a lot, PLEASE SHARE.
(Because neither Paypal nor GoFundMe work in Venezuela…)
Here’s the link to my friend’s fundraiser inGenerosity.
Hen's Hellsite 