JDC Helps a Farmer With No Land Keep His Home

Roberto, age 73, has spent more than 20 years in Villa Dominguez – a small Argentine town of 1,500 inhabitants in the province of Entre Ríos. He lives alone and in virtual isolation.

Once an epicentre of Jewish settlement at the beginning of the century, the devastating effects of economic erosion have forced many of the area's farmers and producer's into exile, and terminated public transportation to town. Reaching the Villa Dominguez requires a 20-kilometer drive along a dust and gravel road from the nearest city, Villaguay – 400 kilometers from Buenos Aires. When it rains, Villa Dominguez is inaccessible even in an All-Terrain Vehicle.

Roberto's parents, Isaac and Clara, escaped persecution in Russia to the countryside of Argentina. They farmed the land in order to offer their nine children a promising future in a place where they could live freely and openly as Jews – a dream gone unrealised among Jews for generations. As children, Roberto and his siblings helped on the farm and worked in the countryside to ensure their family's survival.

Isaac fell ill in the early 1970's, and Roberto travelled between his parents' home in Villa Dominguez and the family land in the countryside. "I used to stay several days at the farm when I could but I had to take care of my parents, cook, go shopping, and many more things. I hired a maid to help me, but it was not enough," Roberto says. "Somebody had to be with them, so I stayed," he adds, proudly.

When their parents passed away, all of the siblings – with the exception of Roberto –decided to sell their land. But they left Roberto such a small plot that he could no longer support himself by farming. Finally, alone and indebted, he was forced to sell his land, too.

Like Roberto's family, thousands of others that relied on farming for their livelihood had to give up their land as a result of the increasingly unstable economy; its value had greatly depreciated while the price of food climbed. In only a few years, Roberto lost so much; he kept his parents house as his sole refuge.

"I should not have sold my plot, but I had no choice. I was ill and I needed the money. The president of the Jewish community helped me with food for some time," says Roberto. "I did not even collect a retirement pension; I was worth nothing – and then things got even worse."

The current economic crisis accelerated the collapse of the weakest regions in Argentina. In provinces such as Entre Ríos, money stopped circulating and alternative pseudo currencies were issued. The cost of living increased three fold and even five fold. Millions of people fell below the poverty line. Roberto's situation worsened since he had neither income nor assets. For some months he had no light gas or water since he could not afford public utilities; he fetched water from the town's public square to survive.

After many months of agony, JDC stepped in. Roberto receives food and assistance to pay his gas and electric bills, and will soon get help to repair his house so that he can spend the last years of his life in a dignified place. "The help of the JDC is going to change my life. We are going to reconstruct the bathroom and repair the kitchen so that I can have a sink. I would never have been able to do all this by myself," he explains.

Roberto sits beside the aged portrait of his father, which hangs on the damp wall. "They are going to help me change my life," he repeats, a faint smile lighting his face.