Behind a Buenos Aires Storefront, a Family's Struggle

To Alicia, 34, and Ariel, 29, it seems like yesterday they were entrepreneurs. Until two years ago, families bought school and cleaning supplies, food, and other household items at their "super-kiosk" located down the block from their rental apartment in Paternal, a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Buenos Aires. But as the Argentine economy steadily declined in the 1990s so did sales; the couple was forced to sell the store and move out of their home.

"Business nearly stopped," says Ariel regretfully. The kiosk that once earned them an income of 800 pesos per month and also supported Ariel’s parents was barely clearing 100 pesos when they closed.

Ariel now earns less than 150 pesos per month selling sneakers out of a catalog to retail stores. "It is a complicated situation, and it is hard to imagine that things will get better," he says surveying the tight quarters that are now his "home".

Alicia and Ariel live in a one-room storefront with their son Lionel, 6, and daughter Valeria, 8 months. A broken glass window that still faintly reads "ROTISERIA" and a cloth curtain are the only dividers between the family’s two crammed twin beds and the street. A nook in the corner has been designated as a kitchen – a refrigerator, a hot plate, two makeshift gas stovetop burners, and a small table that barely accommodates four chairs. The walls are humidity-stained, and the only running water comes from a small sink in the bathroom – a space no more than 2 ft. by 5 ft. with no door and no shower.

"When I think about having sold all of my furniture and things, and how much work it was for me to buy them, I feel very bad," says Alicia. "I know I will never recuperate those things…but we had to eat."

Still, the couple feels lucky to have a roof over their head. An acquaintance rents the storefront to them without a guarantor – a legal requirement in order to rent an apartment in Argentina. Alicia and Ariel also rely on a rent subsidy of 170 pesos (of the total 230) from JDC to afford the room.

The couple receives a monthly supermarket debit card of 184 pesos from JDC in order to buy groceries. Milk, vitamins, diapers and other basic necessities for Valeria are provided through JDC’s Baby Help Program. A stroller and high chair, clothing, costly vaccinations not provided by the public health system – for Hepatitis and chicken pox – and Jewish ceremonies of Brit Mila and Simchat Bat are also made accessible through Baby Help.

"I feel calmer and much better because we are being cared for," says Alicia. "I didn’t expect this kind of help, and I don’t know what we would do without it." Ariel is a skilled electrician and hopes to take courses and earn an Electrical Engineering license to support his family.