Another Lifetime Small Business Owner Forced to Rely on Social Assistance Center

Moises likes to show his fingers. "They earned me a good living, these fingers," he says. "They put my three children through college."

Moises, who is 78 years old, spent a lifetime working leather using ancient Indian techniques he learned in the Western reservations of Santiago del Estero. His bags were so beautiful that for years he exported them to Spain and the United States. He had his own workshop and employed five artisans and his own wife, Sara.

In the early 1990's however, Moises started having heart problems and had to work less and less. Eventually he had to close his shop and move his machines and tools home. "I couldn't work", he says dryly.

Now he and his wife live from their pensions, a grand total of $140 a month, plus what little help his children can give them. Until last year they could manage, but inflation ate up their savings and earnings. Midway through 2002, they could no longer afford to buy their medicines.

Moises contacted his local JCC and was directed to a JDC-sponsored Social Assistance Center. "Now we get food aid and the medicines we need," he says. "The rest we can handle. For instance, I'm slowly repairing our apartment. I can't afford to hire a plumber to fix my sink, so while I learn plumbing we wash the dishes in the bathroom."