Jenitza Mármol, 38 years old, Public Accountant.

In Venezuela we have been affected by the pandemic to a greater extent mainly due to the gasoline shortage. Our hands are already tied because we cannot leave our houses whenever we want, but within the schedule imposed by the state government, but, even if we could, many people would not be able to do it because they do not have money to fill their tanks with gasoline. In other countries, people can normally walk on the street to buy food or medicine, but for us, it is very uphill.

In my particular case, I have the possibility of buying gasoline, so every day at 6 am I leave my house and go to a park called La vereda del Lago. The park is closed, but I have a special permit to get in because a group of friends and I have a foundation that takes care of the street dogs that live in the aforementioned park. We do not have headquarters or a specific area to shelter dogs, so we have to carry out our activities throughout all areas of the park. In La Vereda del Lago there are more than 30 dogs, and 16 of them are puppies that were born during the quarantine.

The number of dogs we help today varies greatly. There is a hotel near the park and the dogs used to go to there to look for leftover food from the restaurants, but since the hotel is closed, they cannot do it anymore, so they have to go to the houses that are near the park to see if someone gives them food or they hunt iguanas, etc.

The Rafael Urdaneta University is located within the park, and several dogs also live there. They were very used to the people, and the food that the students and professors gave them. Today they look very thin, and every time we get there to give them food they rush at us, full of joy. They don’t understand anything, they are used to being surrounded by people, and suddenly they were left alone without knowing why. I understand that not all people like animals, but I ask them to have a more selfless attitude towards dogs. I believe that in Venezuela we have not been taught about the culture of animal protection, but we all must understand that even they have been affected by the quarantine.

Since the quarantine began, we have had to pay for the dog’s food from our own pockets or ask for credit at the place where we buy it; We mainly work with the money we receive through donations and today in Venezuela some people cannot even buy food for themselves because they are not working. In my particular case, I had a monthly income because I am the owner of an apartment that I had rented to a family, but since they are also going through this same situation, they ended the contract, they went to another house and I stopped receiving my income, so now I have to use my savings to cover my expenses.

I think we should all be quite aware of what we do, and the care we should have during this quarantine, because if there were to be an outbreak, as it happened in Europe or the United States, our health system would not be prepared to face a crisis of such magnitude. Wear masks and gloves and try to respect social distancing, because the consequences of not taking the necessary measures could be fatal for all Venezuelans.

Photo credits: Ivanna Mia Márquez.