WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE IN VENEZUELA, STORY AND EXPERIENCES BY MAFER CABRERA.

Hello my friends ❣️

For those who don't know me or maybe you haven't read me my name is Mafer Cabrera, I'm Venezuelan, from the warm state of Aragua ❤️

Several days ago I saw a post about what it means to live in Venezuela and it left a lot in my mind and I said "I have to write my point of view about what I always say about Venezuelan society, our drive and mettle to face so many things".

When I was born, my parents were already 30 and 35 years old. Everyone spoiled me a lot for being the youngest in the family. At that time my parents lived in a rented house, my father has always had good jobs, we lived very well, I was very happy, I had many toys and good food. I have 3 siblings and many cousins who always spoiled me 💕.

When I was in elementary school, everything was going well economically in our country, you could have an adequate standard of living by supplying the basic necessities of daily life. I never had a problem if something was missing, problems with electricity or food. It was something totally unknown to me at that time.

Later I moved to Cagua, they bought a house and that's where I studied high school, I never lacked anything, my parents are people who have always worked, my father has always had an excellent job and my mother has always been an impeccable housewife.
The years went by until I reached 4th and 5th grade where I began to notice lacks, everything began to unleash the endless madness that we still assume today.....

Friends if I am sincere in my graduation already my parents and our acquaintances had begun to notice how the economy declined thing that marked many Venezuelans , it was no longer the same. (there were some very strong months where there was nothing to eat you could not get anything and later people began to lose weight), I remember very well that the year after my graduation 2017 to be exact was an extreme madness, there was no opportunity to buy food, not even a flour. A pasta, even a rice, were endless queues, from there began the so-called "bachaquerismo" sold so expensive that you could buy little, increased crime. ha! My God, it was crazy. Those were very hard months full of despair, but you know I remember very well that smile and tranquility that my mother with great effort cooked what we had and presented me with the dish that I never lacked, being the Youngs.

Only my mom, my dad and I lived on those dates and I will never forget that it was 2 am (I still did not sleep at that time in those years I was very active with Twitter) and I realized that they were getting ready, I asked them "where are you going? "It was something very hard that marked my life, they were going by car but still the danger is always there and they were getting so worn out that I will never forget that, they arrived twelve hours later with nothing. It was very hard. It also happened to my dad and it even drizzled. It was very hard not only for us but for everyone in my country, well for the most part.

We found ourselves in the moment of GUARIMBAS, NATIONAL PROTESTS. The fear was great, where I live there were protests, they blocked streets, it was crazy. I had to go through one when it was the first day of school.

(https://cutt.ly/YvGXZBB)

I started a course of aesthetic medicine and makeup with a lot of effort my parents bought each and every one of the materials, paid the monthly fees and I was fascinated to go every time I had classes. I finished it and I was always at the hairdresser's of a classmate's mother, learning a little bit of everything. "She always told me to be confident when working, that's what your client feels". These are things that I treasure in the face of so much adversity ❤️

In 2018 little by little began to normalize the purchase of products, we seemed to breathe again. would normality return?

I forgot to mention the blackouts and power cuts by schedule, that discomfort to sleep when the scheduled cut was at night, the worst.

In March of that year there was a national blackout, friends I have a birthday on March 9th and that day we were in the middle of the blackout, it was very rude. Although all my friends came to see me anyway, we lost food, I had no battery in my phone, it was a totally atypical birthday but you know what? I had a great time, I laughed like never before, my mom and dad were with me again making the impossible, the possible. I remember they made arroz con pollo and some super fun drinks, never letting themselves be beaten.

Although it was a very hot birthday and with a lot of mosquitoes, I had a great time. And that is what characterizes us, you know? That determination to keep going forward in spite of everything, with a laugh and a good attitude, looking for ways to always be happy.

I have always sold on my own, I am an independent merchant with great honor, I have always sold makeup, I love it and it is what I love to do, I love it when they ask me and I can help them in anything I know about the products, I always try to serve them in the best way. This is an art that I learned through the situation of the country, since all this started and I understood that people who work on their own earned a little more, I really started this way was because of everything I saw, those low salaries, even the dollar movement had not arrived here like that, They earned even less, high costs, super inflation, led me to be an independent trader, offer my products and sell them through social networks, I was looking for a way to get ahead even though everything was so strong, however emigrate was in my plans, I felt that enough was enough.

In 2019, with my husband @alex07samir we decided to emigrate to Bogota - Colombia, we were trying our luck there for almost a year, working and trading independently is also what we Venezuelans abroad do the most, in the Colombian capital there are many Venezuelans and the labor competition was strong, that led us to not get steady work, We got jobs but we earned little, we were not paying rent and that was enough, the food was expensive but we were calmer and safer in our country, later we stopped working and began to sell makeup on our own, we were doing well. Things were slowly getting better.

(Capture from my instragram, location Bogotá Colombia - transmicable JuanPablo II 😳)

2020, year covid19 and pandemic in my mind I was just saying "I'm very emotional and I was thinking what was going to happen, what was that and so on. As the months went by we realized that many people around us had the covid, we started selling our products through DELIVERY again, because the isolated people wanted to make up anyway hahaha, it was a very strong year, a lot of confinement, my husband, my mom and I lived together at that time. She moved in with my sister and my niece, but we continued seeing each other since we lived close, with the protocols since getting sick is a luxury in this country honestly.

Where my husband and I currently live, we ran out of water for most of last year and this year, in times of pandemic my god how could we do, it was very difficult, we had to walk to another urbanization, carry bottles of water and subsist as best we could. We lost our fridge, thanks to the electricity and its blackouts, we are still without it. Living without a fridge is difficult my friends haha. Also our air conditioner. Things like that are hard to pay for.
That year ended, we were still in pandemic but we got together with our families and had a nice time, with our taichi happiness.

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2021, all super expensive and unfeasible. We have the presence of the virus mutation coming from Brazil present. My cousin sister invited me to join the platform for years and I decided with my husband here we are, I hope that with Hive we can continue to afford the necessary expenses, we only have a month. I hope to be able to fix mainly our fridge and pc to be able to work with better quality. I do everything from my phone with mobile data because the truth is that I really like being here, working in this way and creating beautiful content and learning from everyone every day by reading your posts, I feel great that despite all the BAD things we can go through and this strong political situation that we are currently going through, we have nice things that motivate us to move forward, Hive came to my home and to stay.

The most important thing so far in 2021 for me is the arrival of Slash Mizzin my other cat son. 😍

This work gives me life, as I always say the digital era is just beginning. We are going for more with a lot of love and commitment.

Grateful that you came here, read my story, my way of seeing what this situation in Venezuela has marked me and has left in me for good and that we continue doing nice things despite everything and no matter what, let's be happy💕.

UNTIL A FUTURE POST HIVE FRIENDS💌