A Venezuelan teacher’s $15 monthly income is insufficient to pay for their basic food needs, let alone rent or medication.
Many people in the South American nation that is currently experiencing a crisis are compelled to work numerous jobs or combine their family’s income.
Thousands of people have left their home countries in search of better financial security.
“For the past two years, the situation has been horrible; you can’t even buy shoes,” 70-year-old Maria Cerezo, who has been a teacher in the public sector for 39 years, told AFP at a thrift shop in the capital Caracas.
She had just selected a blue nylon dress with white polka dots and a price tag of $2. She hid the garment behind other clothes for sale.
“I’ll get it tomorrow, God willing, because I don’t have the money today,” Cerezo explained.
She remembers a time when a teacher would buy “clothes, shoes, electrical appliances” with their yearly bonus.
Nowadays, “it’s not possible.”
In Venezuela, a basket of basic food for a family of four costs roughly $500 per month, which is 33 times the pay of a teacher, a profession that has historically been underpaid but has never been as low as it is currently.
The salaries of Cerezo’s spouse, a lawyer, and daughter, a teacher, help to supplement the family finances.
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