The Devaluation of the Peso

The panic that the devaluation of the peso left in the people of my country is still remembered as the worst financial crisis in México. Apparently, the Government did not know how to run the exchange rates that were going out of control in December 1994. By that time my mother was ready to accomplish her dream and become the owner of a house, one for which she had fought very much. The devaluation not just affected certain people, it also affected my family. As I have said the devaluation of the Mexican peso created for my family several serious situations because my mother lost her job, her house and we experienced severe economic problems.

With the devaluation of the peso, my mother lost her job in a well-known Mexican company that used to sell houses. She had worked there for over five years and her objectives were mainly to obtain experience and learn as much as could be possible, so then she could offer my brother and me a better quality of life. She was in charge of taking people into the area that was still under construction, so customers would know where they were going to live. The construction area required a lot of labor and workers. That is why lot of business closed as a result of the bankrupt economy. They also reduced their staff and employees, and therefore, they dismissed my mother. However, the devaluation did not affect my mother’s willingness or her desire to work. Of course she knew how to handle our situation very well and started to created flower arrangements to sell them in different local offices. That is how we begin accommodating our routine, little by little. My brother and I were helping my mother to create different and colorful flower arrangements so that then she would sell them while our situation was recovering.

Another effect from the devaluation of the peso was that we lost our home, along with our memories. It was December when my mother went to the Central Bank to sign a loan so that we would finally become the owner of a place we thought would be spending the rest of our lives. After three days, she received a letter in which she was notified that the price of the loan had increased, and it was higher than the original amount. My mom did not pay so we would have to leave the house. Without a job, my mom could not afford such a quantity and eventually the Mexican Central Bank kept our home. The devaluation of the peso caused many more problems that affected our family for the next following months.

Although three months had passed after the devaluation, my family and I were hardly surviving. Unfortunately in those days I was beginning to present symptoms that would be a long illness. For that my mother had to talk to specialized doctors the severity of my problem, and these searches included expensive exams. As a result of my mother’s effort and after various studies, we got to know the severity of my illness. Mom had done the right things to find out that my symptoms were no more than tachycardias and not convulsions as we had thought. Moreover, the economic crisis forced us to sell the majority of our things in order to permanently solve our economic situation. Even though the devaluation left us with a hardly any income, we overcame the devaluation of the peso. We managed to overcome this situation in a very unique way, working hard and growing together.

The devaluation of the Mexican peso left my mother without a job, left our family without a home and with a lot of economic problems. Despite these experiences, the crisis did not harm our relationship within my mother, my brother and me. If we had to go through everything again I would not hesitate because I had learned a lot from that crisis. After more than ten years since the devaluation, it’s still tough to understand how a single mother could face such a situation. I am sure it was because her love as a mother was the engine that made her look for another job and another home. In addition, she would work hard to avoid the same economical problems as we had before.