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Tag Archives: Working solo mom

Dengue Fever Threatened My Son’s Life

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Family Life, Working Life

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Aedes aegypti dengue mosquito, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Fortaleza/Ceará, Low blood platelets, Working solo mom

Dengue Fever - Aedes Aegypti MosquitoDengue Fever – Aedes Aegypti Mosquito
Photo Credit: WHO/TDR/Stammers

 

When my older son, John, was eighteen years old, he took sick with what I thought was the flu. At the Italbras tannery, my Italian boss had arrived in Brazil for a five-day visit by our largest cut-and-sew client. The day our two visitors arrived, John was bedridden with high fever, headache, and muscle and joint pains. Our over-the-counter medicines for fever and colds only provided temporary relief.

Around ten o’clock, when John called me, I knew that something was wrong. His condition had worsened. After telling my boss that I had to take my son to the hospital, I returned to Fortaleza in a company vehicle. Continue reading →

Brazil: Teaching My Sons to Cook

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Family Life

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Ceará/Northeast Brazil, Cooking lessons, Raising sons, Treatment for herniated disk, Working solo mom

Baiao de Dois - Typical Food of Ceara - Brazil

Baião de Dois – Rice with Beans and Cheese

Typical Food of Ceará – Northeast Brazil

Source: viajeaqui.abril.com.br

 

My sons were eleven and thirteen years of age when a medical examination revealed that my severe back pain was the result of a herniated disk – peril of a sedentary working life coupled with lack of physical exercise, according to my doctor.  The treatment prescribed by the neurosurgeon I consulted seemed worse than the pain that caused me to walk with a limp. Complete bed rest for fifteen days. Flat on my back with a pillow under my knees. I could only get up to use the toilet. He allowed me up to five days to make arrangements at work and at home for my hibernation.

At the time, I had two assistants working with me in the Import Department at Ceará Importers.* One of them, fluent in English, had recently joined us. During my absence from the office, I agreed to work by phone, as needed, throughout the work-day.

One of the medications the doctor prescribed required daily injections. My next-door neighbor gave me the name and apartment number of a retired nurse living in our condominium. We agreed to a time that would work for both of us – my sons had to be at home to let her in.

Getting help with washing our laundry and cooking was another concern. The laundry proved easy.  A family-owned lavanderia, operating within the condominium complex, provided washing and ironing services at an affordable rate. I arranged for pick-up and delivery during the time my sons would be home from school.

The cooking was another matter. Ordering meals for the three of us for fifteen days would burst my budget. My sons agreed to do the cooking. They already knew how to prepare breakfast. The main meal, for lunch and dinner, became their challenge. Cooking began when they got home from school around one o’clock. With my thirteen-year-old in charge, they followed my step-by-step instructions for preparation of the ingredients and cooking time. When in doubt and in order to determine if the food was fully-cooked, they brought the pot for me to see.

During those days immobilized, I realized the need to teach my sons to cook. On Sundays, following my recovery, I started teaching my older son to cook. Sunday cooking lessons with my younger son began when he turned thirteen. Today, my younger son is a better cook than I am and a “cook man” like my father.

Each one of us learned a lot during those fifteen days. Though fearful about not being able to walk again and my loss of income – my work contract did not include paid sick leave – I had to be strong for them. In spite of their own fears, my sons were there for me all the way. No acting up. No complaints. We grew stronger and more united as a family unit. What more could a working solo mom ask of her sons?

*Fictitious Name

When a Company Dies

23 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Economy and Finance, Working Life

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Bankruptcy, Brazilian Temporary Visas, Fortaleza, International trade professional, Prolonged drought in Ceará, Rio Jaguaribe, Small- and medium-sized enterprises, Working solo mom

Bankruptcy Graph

Source: ActionCoach Brasil (acisa.org.br)

 

When our Brazilian Temporary Visas came up for review and renewal, I was working at Melon Exporters S.A. Since my estranged husband had returned to Guyana, I had to prove to the immigration authorities at the Federal Police Department that I was capable of providing for myself and two sons.

After checking my Application for Renewal Form, the courteous Federal Police Officer handling our case looked up at me. “Shouldn’t your position be secretary?”

“I am the import-export manager,” I said, showing him the Declaration from Melon Exporters S.A. stating my position and monthly salary. I had also brought a recent newspaper clipping about our company and its founder. Melon Exporters S.A. was a success story for the State of Ceará. We had a good export record. I was proud to be part of the team.

My first inkling of trouble came when my colleague in the Finance Department shared her concerns about our financial woes. Melon Exporters not only had to contend with rising operational costs, but also the effects of prolonged drought in the semi-arid region. While the population of over two million in Fortaleza contended with water-rationing, the increased salinity in the shrinking reservoir, feeding our melon plantation, affected our yield, the size of our fruits, and their sucrose content.

To preserve our overseas markets, the owner and managing director obtained agricultural lands along the bank of the Rio Jaguaribe, the life-line of Ceará. The new and ambitious project came at too great a cost. Our bankers’ refusal to renew our credit finance heralded the end. A bold strategy to inject life-giving working capital only prolonged our death throes.

As the staff shrunk, those of us who remained had to assume the responsibilities of the departed. Providing our overseas clients with answers and updates on developments became my task. We, the five survivors, knew that the time had come to let go of the bond we had developed as a successful work team.

Our last year-end staff party was dismal. Together with our spouses and children, we only filled two large tables put together at the open-air restaurant where we gathered to commemorate the passing of the year. No Santa Claus lifted our spirits with gifts for everyone. A team member and I won the two cash prizes. We exchanged gifts with our secret friends, picked two weeks earlier. My secret friend, the young receptionist and telephone operator, gave me a pair of drop earrings of a helm in black and gold – a memento I treasure to this day.

For the first time in my professional life, I was part of a dying company. It shook my world and my confidence in working for small- and medium-sized family-owned enterprises. As a working solo Mom, I had to let go of the bond I had developed with my colleagues and the man who had given me so many opportunities to grow as an international trade professional. With a heavy heart, I had to move on.

 

Surviving Brazil’s Hyperinflation in the 1990s

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Economy and Finance

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Brazilian hyperinflation 1990s, Cheque pré-datado, credit worthiness, economy, Pagamento parcelado, Pre-dated Checks, Purchases in Installments, Surviving hyperinflation, Working solo mom

Parcel your purchase in three installments without interest on your Credit Card

Minimum Installment R$5.00 (US$2.47 on 08/26/12)

Source: http://www.gramado.onde.ir

 

When I started working at Melon Exporters S.A. in the early 1990s, I earned an impressive seven-figure monthly salary, the equivalent of six minimum salaries at that time. Those were the days when we struggled with hyperinflation. A year later, the Brazilian Central Bank chopped off three zeroes from the cruzeiro in circulation and introduced the cruzeiro real.

One of my challenges as a working solo mom was keeping my two sons in a good school: a safe environment with qualified teachers. At the beginning of every school year, text books, school materials, and school attire stretched my budget to bursting point. Several major retail stores offered in-store credit to customers with a good credit history. I needed a chance to build my credit history. Help came from a work colleague. During our lunch break, she took me to a school supplies retailer where she knew someone in the credit department. With her vouching for my credit worthiness, I obtained approval for my first purchase with payment in three installments.

Payment with installments (pagamento parcelado) is also available using checks and credit cards. The buyer issues pre-dated checks (cheque pré-datado) of equal value, really post-dated checks, in the name of the store or individual with payment-due dates over the three- to six-month period, for example: 08/26/12, 09/26/12, and 10/26/12. Avoiding non-payment of pre-dated checks for insufficient funds was crucial to building a good record.

Credit card companies also offer purchases in three or more equal installments, charged monthly on your credit card account. In the captioned ad, the online store offers three payments without interest charges (sem juros). This is not always the case. Full payment (pagamento à vista) at time of purchase could be cheaper by 15 percent or more, depending on consumer credit interest rates. During Brazil’s period of hyperinflation, the difference could be over 40 percent.

Opening a checking account proved a difficult task. When I approached the desk of the New Accounts Manager at the bank where I maintained a savings account, he sized me up from my shoes to my face. My paycheck was not enough. He wanted to see my Income Tax Return for the previous year.

At the bank across the street, I needed an introduction from a customer of good standing. Happily, the accountant at Melon Exporters was a customer of the bank. Later that week, she went with me to the bank to open my first Brazilian checking account.

Months later, when the company started doing business with the Bank of the State of Ceará (privatized in 2005), the Branch Manager invited me to open a checking account. I did not even have to go into the bank. A year later, he offered me a credit card account.

My work colleagues were good people who looked out for one another. With their guidance, I learned the art of surviving on a fixed wage while living expenses soared daily.

On Being a Working Solo Mom in Brazil

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in About Me, Brazil, Family Life, Working Life

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Asking for a salary increase, international trade professionals, Maids in Fortaleza, Nothing ventured nothing gained, Raising sons alone, Sole-provider, Working Class, Working solo mom

Rosaliene and Sons – Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil

As a working solo mom in Brazil, I learned to juggle my priorities: me, my two sons, and my job. When my sons were too young to stay home alone and go to school on their own, I needed reliable help. My next-door neighbor, Dona Maria – a widow in her sixties – helped me find an empregada. In addition to staying with my sons during the morning, the maid helped with the cleaning.

My sons attended the afternoon school session (1:20 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.). Returning home during my two-hour lunch break, I had lunch with them and then took them to school. (I woke early to cook lunch.) The bus-ride took about an hour both ways. Their school stood a brisk five-minute walk from my workplace.

When I changed jobs and could not go home during my lunch break, I made several short-lived arrangements for them to get safely to school. In those days, children disappeared from in front of their homes. With trepidation, I had to let them go to school on their own.

After eighteen months and three maids, I learned that young maids in Fortaleza were unreliable. The third quit after two weeks, without notice. Dona Maria told me that was not unusual. I concluded that they did not like working for a gringo. Taking Dona Maria’s advice, I desisted in hiring another maid. Dona Maria offered to keep an eye on my sons, then eight and ten years old. To my sons’ dislike, she remained true to her word.

Continually rising educational, health, and living expenses demanded that I earn more. Unbridled inflation showed no mercy to a working solo mom. Focused on our survival, I participated in 16-hour specialized courses for international trade professionals.

The climb up the unstable ladder had its pitfalls. In the 1990s, Brazil’s economic plans to curb hyperinflation took down many good companies. Two of the firms I worked for also became victims.

I also faced another challenge. I discovered that men in a similar job position earned twice my income. Stepping out of my comfort zone, I asked for a salary increase. My boss looked at me in the eyes and called me presumptuous. Although I did not get my desired increase, I did get a raise. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

At another firm, the Managing Director did not hide his displeasure at my audacity. “You people never have enough,” he told me, in the presence of the General Manager. “You always want more.” I interpreted you people as the working class. He approved the increase I asked for, but I had to swallow a lot more insults after that.

I endured. I had to. . .for my sons, for our survival.

Being the sole-provider for my sons did not earn me an equal salary as my male counterparts. They did not welcome me into the Men’s Club. Without the help of neighbors, close friends, and school teachers, I could not have raised my sons to become fine young men.

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