Date Build: March, Saturday 12th - Sunday 13th, 2022
FAMILY INFORMATION:
Father: Carlos
Age: 31 years old
Profession: builder
Salary Weekly: $ 90 USD
Mother: Grecia
Age: 28 years old
Profession: housewife
Salary Weekly: $ 60 USD
CHILDREN
Name: Dante - Age: 5 years old.
TIME IN TIJUANA: 8 years
Letter from the family:
I write this letter to you to tell you a little bit about the economic situation my family and I are going through. My husband, Carlos Daniel Reyes Covarrubias, and I have been together since October 2014. Together, we have a 5 year old son born on March 14th 2016. We were able to begin purchasing our own plot of lands July 11th 2018. My husband and I have been paying toward our plot as much as we can, even often sacrificing other things to be able to do so. For a while now, even before the pandemic, we have been struggling financially. So, I decided to go out on a limb and reach out to you guys for help, seeing if I qualified for a home. For a little bit, I was actually thinking I was going to receive a home from your guys, but then the pandemic started, and I was notified that everything was suspended temporarily. After that, we tried saving up a little bit of money to build a room-type of shelter on our plot of land to live in , but I got really sick, and wasn’t able to go to IMSS, because they were not attending people anymore due to so many cases of Covid. After going to various specialists and doing many different tests, they figured out I had 3 rocks in my gallbladder, and that was why I was so bad. To try to help with the pain, and as a treatment, they gave me painkillers, but they were very expensive. Because of this, little by little, we had to waste all of the money we had saved, on medicine. A little while later, thanks to God, IMSS granted us economic support so that I was able to have the operation that I needed. After that, I was able to return to work and was able to start helping my husband with the expenses and savings again. When we were finally getting a good rhythm, my mom Lila (who is actually my grandma, but who has raised me and is like a mom to me) got sick with Covid. She got very sick and it was very severe. She's 72 years old. Along with my husband, and uncle, we pulled together all of our resources and finances, to be able to afford all of the medications and treatments that the doctor had prescribed. Thanks to God, she beat Covid! She helps us out a lot by watching my son when I have to work. However, no matter how much we try or what we do, it feels like we have not been able to make any progress or do anything with our plot of land. My husband is working full-time as a brick maker. I was working a full-time job monday-friday, but now I am only working 3 days a week because my son’s schooling is online and he needs help with school. Because my mom is not that tech savvy, I have to be here with him to help, which means I can’t work as much as I would like, and because of that we haven’t been able to earn as much either. For the payment for our plot of land, my husband pays $131.25 dollars, which is even more for us because we get paid in pesos, have to convert the little money we have, pay rent, pay our bills for water and gas, and gasoline, and then with the little money leftover from that is all that we have to use for materials for our home… which is even less if my mom Lila, or son get sick, and we have to take them to the doctor or buy medicine or such. Actually, we don’t even have enough money monthly to cover those costs, so we have to keep asking to borrow money, sometimes from my uncle. So, right now we are renting a little house, it's a house of a family friend, and we have been living here a little while because they rent it to us for very cheap. However, it has no division, it’s just all of us all together, my mom was forced to live somewhere else, and overall it is bringing a lot of stress and division to our family. I hope we can hold onto our hope in God and our faith. Even if we don’t end up qualifying, at least we tried the best we could, and don’t have to live with the doubt of “what-if”. God bless you guys! Sincerely, Grecia Guadalupe Valenzuela Carreta