Yes,
@IaninSheffield
That is a sad story, far from unique and not new.
Immediately after the lockdown I started hearing these types of stories. It's a difficult concept for most of us to get our heads around that a lot of people are living day to day. One day without work can undermine a domino, more days and that domino falls, setting off the next one and soon it's like a runaway train - impossible to stop.
Yesterday I took a long walk to a large park in the city. There are hundreds of little carts/wagons selling their goods. When the park was Covid closed these folks had no income. When the park reopened they returned but the people stayed away.
At least now they can make some money.
But they're waiting to see if the Government will shut it again.
Prices for the basics - eggs, milk etc. have risen. That can blow apart domestic budgets.
The people who make their living on the streets have been hard hit. Street entertainers, roadside food, fruit & veg sellers were hammered.
Peru is a prime example - a very early, hard lockdown yet it is, I think, third in per capita deaths - because so many are so poor they couldn't follow the lockdown rules. México is far wealthier and I can see the effect here - I dread to imagine the effect in other places.
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are also contending with a particularly nasty hurricane season.
Yet, despite all that, there are daily examples of people helping each other. The government may not be providing much of a safety net but the people are. Maybe I'm being a patronising dick, but there is a communal, shared responsibility on display that is genuinely heartwarming to witness.
