Who says you need your eyes to see?

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ACCEDER Hebrew Free Loan

By Nicole Grouman

Adrian is 46 years old, he’s married and has 4 children. He lives in Villa Devoto a middle class neighbourhood located in the city of Buenos Aires. He used to be a pharmacist but retired due to his blindness. He’s challenged but not incapable of working to support his family. He just needed some help, someone who knew that he didn’t need his eyes to truly observe.

So he takes the elevator, gets on an average of eleven buses a day and walks all around the big city selling cellular calling cards. Unlike other blind people, he absolutely refuses to use the green city mandatory cane. In Argentina, there’s a law that establishes you must walk with one so people can tell you’re blind, but I refuse to use it.

He explains that he wants to be viewed as someone with different capabilities than others, rather than a helpless individual. Adrian has striking deep blue eyes with a peaceful voice to match. You can tell by his gestures that his other senses have taken total command of his perception. As he settles in his chair, he narrates how and why he contacted Acceder.

I lost almost all my vision due to an eyesight problem. I’ve been blind for 20 years. When I was a college student I began to lose my vision progressively. My financial situation was very difficult before I came to Acceder after I retired from my job as a pharmacist in the year 2001. I was discriminated every time I applied for a job and turned down. So, I decided to work independently selling calling cards.

I found out about Acceder from a magazine that was in my temple. Currently, I visit kiosks, personal clients and offer them calling cards. I work with the major cellular companies in Argentina. I started selling in bulk because the revenues per card are very modest; it’s only 0, 10 or 0, 20 cents per unit so I only earn a 2 percent profit.

I needed the loan to buy in mass and so I used the money to buy calling cards to sell them. In the future, I want to work selling more cell phone credit charge online. This is safer because I don’t need to walk around with cash. I use the computer to charge the credit for my customer by myself with a special program that allows me to work. My situation still isn’t easy; I’m still paying the mortgage on my home and have 6 mouths to feed. It’s not simple, luckily my children help me a lot, and they even pitch in with answering clients orders on the computer.

With a peaceful sigh as we finish our interview, he turns his head and says I love walking all around the city. He gets up from his chair, approaches the elevator and presses the button without my help,

So who says you need your eyes to see?

Camila´s smile

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ACCEDER Hebrew Free Loan

By Nicole Grouman


Mauricia has a very tired look in her brown eyes 57 year old eyes. She used to be a seamstress and also ventured into catering but currently is unemployed. She has two daughters; the youngest one has Down syndrome. Her house is very precarious, has water filtrations and walls that are in very bad conditions. As you walk through the entrance and into her home you inevitably feel a sense of sorrow that is reflected even deeper in her expression.
I have two daughters. Celeste is 23 and she studies medicine. Camila is 14 years old and has Down syndrome which means she requires a lot of attention. She has to attend a special school and already had three heart surgeries. I’m mainly devoted to her, Celeste is more independent and lives with her husband, she points out.
A few months ago, I prepared and sold meals for factory workers. When I started my project it functioned well. Unfortunately, due to the increases in the prices, I couldn’t continue with it. I worked with factory workers and I couldn’t increase the prices of the meals which was my main problem. Currently, I’m not working, but if the costs of the groceries stabilize in March I will start over.
I like cooking and I think Camila will benefit from my work because she can learn how to cook and in the future she can use this skill for herself. I wish to renovate the house, especially because I think hygiene and presentation is fundamental when you work with food, she explains as we sit in her kitchen table which is also her family room.
She contacted Acceder through AMIA, the foundation that represents Jewish centres in Argentina. The social worker there recommended her to call them. I’m very happy with AMIA, they are very kind to me and pay attention to my concerns. Even though I’m Christian, I celebrate with Camilla her religion, her father was Jewish.
When she was born in 1993, he got scared and left. I can’t speak badly about him. I adore him and miss him. If God gave me the opportunity to see him, I would ask him why he was so frightened. He missed the chance to get to know how precious his daughter really is. I heard from his family he died in Israel. My life since he left us has been very difficult and sad. I’ve been struggling to raise two daughters on my own
My guarantors were a friend of mine and my son in law. I received two loans from Acceder, one month after I applied. They amounted to two thousand dollars and with that money I bought a freezer and a car to take Camila to school, buy groceries and get around. I also purchased a microwave and motorcycle to deliver the meals.
The loan helped me a lot, especially because I was able to buy the car to take Camila to the places she needs to go, like her school and to her medical treatment. She has a strong fear of abandonment, so she can’t be left alone for more than 15 minutes.
I wish to finish paying off the loan soon. I just have two more instalments left to pay. What I need to get is another credit of a much higher sum. I want to use that money to fix the house and renovate the kitchen so I have an adequate cooking space. There is a lot of humidity in this house, because of this Camila and I got pneumonia. The doctor told me that I should fix this problem as soon as possible.
Presently, I’m not employed and only receive a 200 pesos monthly pension. With that we try to survive. My older daughter also helps me. I would like to tell the people that are going through a difficult situation like I am, to be patient, keep the faith and that not everything in life is bad. There comes a time when things clear up, she says as she shows me a picture of Camila smiling.

Veronica´s closet

ACCEDER Hebrew Free Loan
www.acceder.com

By Nicole Grouman

Veronica meets me in Acceder´s office. The neighborhood where she resides, Piedrabuena located in the southern region of the city of Buenos Aires is not safe enough for me to travel with all the filming equipment.

She arrives promptly for our meeting in the foundation despite having to travel far across the city. She gives a very warm impression, along with her four year old daughter who she brings along to the interview. Valentina is a spitting image of her mother just in a smaller version, both have dark hair and big black eyes that make it impossible to distinguish the pupil from the iris.

We live in city housing apartments. We struggle every day financially. I fabricate clothing for children and my husband delivers car parts. We have three children. I contacted Acceder to buy materials to make clothes. I make the clothes in my house and then we sell them to a store.

I read about the foundation in a magazine I saw in a kosher shop. I got the loan seven months ago. They treated us great. It took me less than a month, my friends were my guarantors. They loaned me 2, 000 dollars. Sometimes, it’s difficult to ask people for help, but I didn’t have any problems, she says as Valentina interrupts in hopes of grabbing her mom’s attention.

The situation in the country is difficult, the prices keep going up. I would like to leave the place where I live. I am grateful for the apartment but the area is very insecure, they are slums near by. I don’t take the kids to the park, it’s not safe. Their friends are only from their school, she recounts with traces of sorrow in her voice.

I advise those in a trying situation like me, to try to get the loan. I thought I wasn’t going to get it but I did at last. It’s all worth it, especially if you accomplish what you hope for. I tell the sponsors to keep donating because it’s worth it. I hope to make better clothes in the future to sell them at a better price. I was able to accomplish what I wished to thanks to the loan, she says as we finish our interview.

Her daughter grabs her hand tightly and they walk away to the elevator.