Ok, I'll go into details of what we have been dealing with here in Caracas that made Kris and I decide to leave and be supported in that decision 100% by his office. As usual, this is long. I tried to cut out a lot but in reality, this whole previous month was full of enough material for a small novel…even if it would be one only Kris and I could enjoy years down the road. The stuff in bold is a brief version, you can just scroll through and get the jist of it all if you read the bold items but it may not make the most sense.
We knew living in Caracas wasn’t going to be like living in the US.
Both of us have lived in Latin American countries. Kris lived in Panama and Costa Rica, and not in the nice areas of either country. He spent a lot of time in the muddy slums while on his mission there as well as the rural outskirts with very little amenities. I have lived in Brazil where my mother was mugged during daylight hours more than once and in Peru during a time where the Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, terrorist activities were common in Lima. We were both expecting the discomforts of the 3rd world; disease, crime, culture shock, but at the same time we were looking forward to the really great things about living in Latin America. Along with the adventure of living here, we had specific reasons and goals in mind that led to our decision to choose this area rather than Europe for example. One was the language. Your quality of life greatly improves overseas if you speak the language. Kris is fluent in Spanish, I get along well enough. This was a plus for us both. Another was the financial goals we have been working towards specifically, those 40+ acres of paradise in Idaho. It’s a lot easier to save money overseas when you don’t have to worry about a mortgage.
We were proactive in preparing for our move and took all recommendations and information seriously.
I really did a lot of research about Caracas before coming here. We knew that on top of being a 3rd world country the host government did not like Americans. I spent a lot of time corresponding with embassy spouses through e-mail, finding out what Kris and I could to do prepare for our time here.
In my many e-mails with several spouses and the embassy CLO (Community Liaison Office-among other duties, they try and help make your transition easier), they warned me about the rampant food shortages here and gave me a list of items that were either scarce or just really expensive if you were able to find them at all. Hugo Chavez and his price controls made such things as milk and sugar disappear from the shelves completely. Kris and I borrowed a #10 can canner from the cannery in Richmond and canned several months supply of the food staples that were on that list; sugar, flour, rice, powdered milk, rolled oats, wheat, black beans (seriously! Who ever heard of a shortage of beans in South America?).
The CLO also included on that list other items that were really expensive in Caracas that we should consider buying in the States before we left: toiletries, certain cleaning products, and of all things toilet paper. Rumors were flying that TP was the next thing on the list that would be subject to price controls therefore, it would soon be scarce…we bought a year supply from Costco…worst case scenario, TP would not be scarce but we’d have a large supply of really nice TP and not have to use the scratchy stuff they sell there. We also bought a year supply of diapers and wipes for Jamison because the CLO specifically told us they were very difficult to find and if you did find them, they were unbelievably expensive. (Yea, I know could have gone the cloth diaper route but not ready for that, maybe the next baby.) In a nutshell, those of you who were there with us during our prep knew that we prepared for everything they warned us about and spent a lot of time taking it very seriously. There was no mention of other problems we may run into or advice on how we could better prepare for those problems. In several conversations with co-workers who had been on TDY in Caracas they all said "it's like living in Beverly Hills where you can afford everything!"
-Mistake #1, listening to single men on TDY who were not married and had no kids.
We thought food shortages would be the worst thing we'd deal with since that is all we were warned about. The biggest problem would be getting our air and sea shipments.
We were prepared for BRV (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) Customs to open everything and go through our UAB (air shipment) and HHE (sea shipment). This was the only thing mentioned to us concerning our shipment being messed with. We itemized anything valuable, saved the receipts for everything we purchased specifically for this move so in the event anything was seized, we could get reimbursed.
We were told that we would get our UAB within 2 weeks--maybe 3 weeks and our HHE within 2 months. I went ahead and planned for not having our UAB for 4 weeks, just in case, which meant enough diapers and wipes to last us. The UAB contained Jamison’s crib, more clothes, 3 more months worth of diapers and wipes, and several other things we would NEED totaling the limit of 800lbs we were authorized for items that would carry us through until our HHE got to us.
We got to Caracas and much to our surprise our UAB arrived within a week! WOW! Problem was, the BRV decided to hold onto it…you know, just because. They came up with a new policy the day we left (seriously, the policy was dated April 28th!) that stated no UAB would leave customs unless the diplomat had his Carnet (accreditation the BRV gives you that recognizes you as a diplomat). Before this policy, diplomats were able to get their UAB out of customs once they applied for a Carnet and turned in the application to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The other problem was, the HHE shipment would not be allowed to ship, until we received our Carnets…again part of the new policy. Ok, this was fine, we checked with the Human Resources office…”sorry, Carnets are taking as long as 6 weeks, most are taking longer. Didn’t anyone tell you this?” No, the e-mail State Dept sent said 2 weeks for UAB 2 months for HHE after APPLYING for the Carnets…well their reply was a little chuckle followed by –your HHE will probably take closer to 6-8 months, -BRV Customs has been taking their time allowing it to enter the country –it’s been hard to get it out of customs once it’s there. -You might be able to get your UAB in 2-3 months. In a nutshell, this meant we would have to stay in our temporary apartment until our HHE arrived.
Problems in our temporary apartment cause us to consider moving into the permanent apartment even though we don't have any of our furniture. From here on, the temporary apartment is called Las Alamedas and the permanent apartment is La Loma (the names of the buildings) just to make my typing easier.
This is where things started to go downhill:
-The bird mites and the overall size of Las Alamedas is making our stay there very difficult. We decide to move into La Loma on June 7th (June 6th is boys’ last day of school)
GSO refuses to help us with embassy furniture loan even though several other families who have been in similar situations had no problem borrowing furniture.
-Go to GSO (General Services Office and Housing unit) to ask if we can borrow some basic furniture until our HHE arrives because of the conditions in Las Alamedas. The answer is “NO” because Kris’ office has not bought into ICASS which includes a “furniture pool” for those in State Dept who have furnished apartments. We find out from several embassy families that there are many families who were not part of ICASS who borrowed furniture on a temporary basis because of the living conditions; we get the names of those families to give to the GSO.
-GSO still tells us “NO” the jerk in charge (his name is Victor White and his phone number is…OK, just kidding…but his name really is Victor White) won’t even rent us furniture after Kris offers to pay for it. He tells us there isn’t enough furniture in the furniture pool for us to rent or buy. (This later turns out to be a big fat lie)
-Kris’ office is frantically trying to figure out how to help us. Red tape is getting in the way and all managers who have authorization to make changes are in Egypt for a meeting.
-We decide to buy air mattresses from Target.com and camp out at La Loma even if it is going to take until the end of the summer and beyond to get our HHE. We figure we can take advantage of several families who are leaving post to buy furniture cheap. We also hope that Kris’ office can work something out with the GSO to get us some furniture…it will take some time to get his office bought into ICASS or get authorization to purchase our own furniture there to have in a DHS furniture pool for future DHS use and families who find themselves in the same situation.
-Our current landlords, Zorka and her husband Tony, are amazing people who have tried to make things more comfortable for us. The apt. we are in is the only one they had available that was large enough to even closely accommodate us. Zorka was only expecting us to be in this apt no longer than a few weeks. She said it is one of the last apts. that still needs to be updated and remodeled and is in no condition for a family our size for more than a month. She said on several occasions that she was shocked that an embassy employee at Kris' grade would even be housed in one of her apartments (under ICE he is an ICE Assistant Attaché as a GS-14 but under State Dept he is the DHS Attaché). We assured her we were so grateful to her and Tony for the help and understanding.
-Zorka offers to let us use the furniture in Las Alamedas instead of using the air mattresses but because of the bird mites we decide not to chance bringing those that may be hiding in the furniture.
We are warned about conditions in La Loma and told to inspect everything before moving in.
-When we tell Zorka that we will be moving to La Loma she becomes very concerned. She tells Kris and me to go back to La Loma and inspect it very carefully. Test absolutely everything, light switches, electrical outlets, really pay close attention to air vents, look for water leaks and water damage, check every major appliance including water heater, stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. She tells us that the previous family had many problems with that apartment.
-Kris and I return to La Loma to inspect….I have to admit I was completely blinded by all of the room and closets and storage space. As we really look around we are amazed at everything that is broken. Problems have also been purposefully hidden such as exposed wiring and severe water damage. We notice the air vents are thick with mold along with debris. The mold is fuzzy and dark…that’s got to be great stuff flying through the air when the A/C kicks on.
GSO again refuses to help correct problems in La Loma even though it is their responsibility to do so. La Loma is in no condition to be move into especially if we are planning on camping out there with no furniture. No A/C during the day at La Loma and other serious problems that would make living there very difficult.
-We go back to the GSO with the list of things that should be repaired before we move in. The family that was there in that apt. was a State Dept. family (Jim Billings and his family) so GSO should be responsible for getting the apt. back into shape in order for the next family to occupy it because the Billings’ were bought into ICASS. GSO says they just clean it…any repairs are the responsibility of the new family but they will take a look at the water damage and consider taking care of that. Kris tells them that is unacceptable and that it makes no sense the new family is responsible for getting the apt ready including both deep cleaning and repairs. GSO says “that’s how it is in Caracas” (a phrase I have grown to despise) and tells Kris any repairs that are needed will have to be handled with the landlord. Landlord tells us he’s not going to do anything until we move in.
-We also find out that the landlord turns the A/C off during the day. It is only on at night between 5pm and 8am. Ana Zubillaga (the biggest nightmare of an FSN or local Venezuelan who is the head of the Housing Unit in the GSO) actually tells Kris “well, the A/C is on at night because here in Caracas it is hotter at night than it is during the day” hmmmm, is that why the weather reports have the highs during the day around 80˚F while the evenings are a scorching 50˚F? The Landlord won’t allow window units and the portable indoor units we have at Las Alamedas are loud and inefficient so we don’t want one of those in each room of La Loma. Point is, we were told La Loma had central A/C, we specifically requested central A/C for Braedon’s and my allergies (he also has allergy induced asthma…we’d kind of like home to be a refuge for him and I). Not only that, but Kris and I are fat…we like to be cool (that’s a bad argument because even when I was skinny I preferred being cool and wouldn’t be wearing long sleeves when most people were wearing jackets). We have e-mails from the GSO that tell us La Loma has A/C…when I tell Ana this, she calls me a liar.
We are stuck with the as-is living conditions of La Loma
-Kris and I tell the GSO we would like a different apartment. Victor White tells us there is nothing available. If we appeal for a new apartment and they put us in another one, we are stuck with that one the remainder of the time we are here. We ask if we can approve their choice first and pick between the new one or La Loma and he says “NO”. He says that when you are part of the housing pool, you get what they give you.
We have to make a huge decision…tough it out and risk things getting worse or send the kids and I back for the summer until Kris can get things taken care of.
-Kris and I have to make a decision. Do we stay in Caracas under these conditions in La Loma, sleeping on air mattresses until our HHE arrives which could be sometime in September, deal with broken major appliances, leaks, no A/C, and absolutely no support from the embassy? We could also choose to just send the kids and I to Grandpa and Grandma’s home for the summer until our shipments arrive.
We speak to several other families who tell us their horror stories. We aren’t the only ones who are being treated like this. Several employees have already sent their families back to the states permanently because of living conditions combined with several other problems that are only getting worse. Kris decides to talk to his office back in DC.
Kris’ office supports Kris sending us back to the States until he wraps things up in Caracas and transfers to another post. Caracas turns out to be a hardship post and Kris,nor his office, had been told that this was the case. Kris did not agree to a hardship post. Caracas was a 3 year tour....ICE policy is that hardship posts are 2 years or 1 year unaccompanied (meaning no family goes with). Other posts that have similar conditions following the information in the cable that the Ambassador sent to DC (Critical Threat level and 20% hardship differential) are Islamabad, Pakistan; Riyad, Saudi Arabia; and Jakarta, Indonesia. The Ambassador is trying to get the hardship differential bumped up to 25%
-When Kris talks to HQ, they are floored at what we have been going through. Kris tells them we have been trying to make things work but we are getting no support from the embassy. He also tells them the BRV is making his work near impossible, there is no cooperation whatsoever. If it was just the BRV not cooperating we could still enjoy living here but with no support from the embassy to help meet basic comforts of the family, it is not the place he agreed to.
-They tell him that Caracas isn’t a hardship post but what he described to them (he went in to the financial situation of the BRV economy, safety concerns, health care, and overall conditions) it sure sounded like a hardship post. Kris tells them it isn’t officially a hardship post but State Department considers it a hardship post. He lets them know that he did not agree to a hardship post and did not want to spend 3 years at a hardship post. They tell him they are going to look into what is going on.
-HQ reviews a memo that Kris composes and e-mails to them concerning the conditions of the post as well as the lack of support from the embassy in regards to his position as top representative of DHS and the family’s living conditions. One of the other Attaches slips Kris a cable that had been sent to Washington by the Ambassador that completely contradicts the Post Report we received. We find out that State Dept has not been forthcoming with a lot of important information that should have been made known to ICE when they were posting the job and later as we were preparing for our move. Unfortunately for them, State Dept employees may have to suck it up and deal with wherever they are sent but ICE wasn’t going to make us stay after they read Kris’ memo as well as the cable. (Don’t worry, the cable wasn’t classified or anything, just not available to everyone). Kris’ office authorizes us to leave; he will be staying just long enough to get things in order. They will be sending someone on TDY to take care of things until they decide what to do with the office. Several other offices like NAS, DEA, and FBI are either closing, working with skeleton crews or about to close if their needs aren’t addressed by the Ambassador.
-As word makes its way through the embassy that the Line Family is leaving we start to find out a lot of disturbing information as well as some things that make us pretty mad.
*Not only was there furniture in the warehouse, they had so much furniture they were going to be auctioning it off at the end of the month.
*There were several very large apartments available within walking distance of the embassy. The housing unit was squirreling them away for State Department. The DEA Attaché found this information out for us since he is on the housing board. He did a bunch of digging and found that several non-State Department families had been screwed out of housing in line with their family size and rank while lower ranking employees were getting the premium spots. Not only was La Loma problematic because of internal issues, it was also 300 yards (according to Google Earth) away from a very large barrio (or slum). The only thing separating it was a 4 lane highway.
*According to housing regulations, embassy employees are supposed to be housed in 2 neighborhoods; Valle Arriba or San Roman. Our apt was in Santa Fe Sur, we kind of liked the idea of being isolated from everyone but in the grand scheme of safety…it was a bad thing especially with the barrios so close and that specific barrio being one that had many problems.
*Every person Kris or I spoke to told us to leave if we could. We were still second guessing ourselves…were we quitters? Were we making the wrong decision? Neither of us has ever thrown in the towel so quickly but his office was giving us a free pass to leave. Several fathers approached Kris and told him they had sent their families back to the States and that he was doing the right thing. There was one guy (the head of NAS) who continually talked about how fantastic it was in Caracas. When Kris was talking to the DEA Attaché this guy came in and told him to tell Kris how great it is and that he needs to stay. Once NAS dude left the DEA Attaché told Kris, “what is he talking about? I’ve listened to him complain about Caracas since he and his family got here…he can’t stand this place and his office isn’t even replacing him…they are closing NAS down once he leaves”
So that's some of the story. There is still quite a bit that I left out that contributed to Kris' and my decision such as the change in the economic situation of the country during the month we were there because of policy changes made by Chavez, new security concerns that had not been shared with us until Kris was given that cable no one was really supposed to see, health care that was supposed to be really great except that you can't really access it, and the list goes on....
I am really upset about the whole situation and the fact that it could have been so easily fixed. Looking back, once the BRV started messing with us when it came to the visas we should have ended it right there. Unfortunately that wasn't an option Kris' office gave us so we were required to hang on for the duration of the ride. I'm glad that ride is over.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Kris during this whole ordeal:
"You can't roll a turd in sugar and call it a treat" in regards to those TDY morons who spoke so highly of Caracas before we got there. (Yea, Caracas is great if all you are doing is hanging out at an air conditioned embassy all day, getting plastered at happy hour and then hooking up with one of the local women...)
"By their fruits ye shall know them" While taste testing a whole bunch of fruit...every kind they had at the market...Kris and I sat at the table biting into every piece only to have every single bit of it be disgusting. These are fruits that we love...passion fruit, mango, guava, guayabana, papaya, and many more that for some reason that day, were absolutely horrible. This took place the last Saturday we were there and we had been discussing all that had led up to us making the decision to leave when Kris spoke these perfect words that just summed it all up.
So now we wait to see where we go next...it will happen a lot quicker than this last time...no waiting 5+ months for visas this time!
Always In The Middle
13 years ago
