When the Telephone Becomes Sacred: Looking for Jobs

Viviana and Ernesto can do without many things, but the telephone is sacred. "We might have little to eat. We might be cold. But we will pay the telephone bill," they say.

It's not a taste for talking: they have "papered" the city of Buenos Aires over with their résumés and are forever expecting the call that will offer them a job.

Two years ago, the family --Ernesto, Viviana, Martín, 15, Tatiana, 11 and Melanie, 7-- was doing "quite well".

"We bought an apartment, we had some comforts, the children had everything they needed," says Ernesto. "But then we lost our jobs."

In 2001, the meatpacking company he worked for reduced shifts and downsized the staff. "They didn't actually fire me," explains Ernesto, "but after a while I was only working one day a week. It was ridiculous." Now Ernesto moonlights as a driver, taking jobs twice a week with a borrowed sedan.

Viviana was a clerk at an accounting firm that closed down. Last year, the family sold off everything they had. "The microwave oven was the first to go," says Viviana. "Then we sold whatever jewelry we had, some clothes, my watch, everything. But we didn't have that much to sell."

A few months ago, Ernesto contacted the Macabbi JCC and got the help he so desperately needed. Now the JDC supplies the family with food vouchers and small amounts of money for paying bills. "We couldn't pay some bills and they were going to disconnect us," says Ernesto.

"But the first thing we pay is, of course, the telephone," smiles Viviana. Both her and her husband enrolled at the Arial Employment and Microbusiness Center and learned how to perfect their resumés.

This January, the family is happy. "The Shalom Aleichem School just told us that our children qualify for a scholarship," says Viviana. "We are happy because they'll get a good Jewish education. They even gave the children free access to their summer camp."