Professional Translator Turns To Tailoring, JDC and her Sister to Fill an Empty Refrigerator

Every night, Patricia crawls into a small bed in the room she shares with her two teenage daughters. The cramped, pink wallpapered room is not hers but she'll sleep there until her situation improves.

The economic crisis has shattered her dreams. At 47 years old, she was a professional translator specializing in scientific and technical papers. But Patricia lost all her clients--American and Japanese laboratories, shipping firms and oil companies--when the December 2001 meltdown of the Argentine economy killed her business.

After months of mailing her resume without results, she just about gave up. Patricia now sews clothing, buys fabrics and works at home. She also sells Jewish handicrafts at community gatherings.

Every morning, Patricia fills her gray canvas bag with T-shirts and kippot, and sets out to sell them. The golden-brown-haired woman with light blue eyes often returns home quite late at night. What she manages to earn varies from day to day, but "it's never enough".

"It's been years since I've used glycerin soap. I don't make my normal lentil stew anymore. Instead, I mix the lentils with rice and pasta," says Patricia.

After a bitterly contested divorce, Patricia paid off all her debts and managed to keep renting the same three-room apartment in downtown Buenos Aires. Her parents, who had little savings and suffer from various ailments, moved in with her. Patricia gave them her old room, and now she sleeps with her daughters.

Since September 2002, Patricia has been receiving food vouchers from the JDC, which she uses to feed her parents and her daughters. The JDC also helped her cancel her debts with the landlord.

Her 15-year old daughter Shirley, age 15, is enrolled in the Meitiv school lunch program, which allows her a daily lunch at a Jewish high school.

Patricia pays for Shirley's tuition with her earnings. Her ex-husband, an unemployed architect and also a beneficiary of the JDC programs, contributes a little. Her sister, who lives in a large apartment and is well off financially, helps ease Patricia's burden when she can, inviting her to her club on Sundays and driving their parents to the doctor in her new car.

"Every two weeks, my sister invites me to dinner. She always makes extra food and then says 'take whatever is left over, sweetie.' My daughters, parents and I come back home on the bus, with the food in Tupperware containers. With that food I fill my empty refrigerator," says Patricia, her voice cracking.