Editor’s note. This article is the second part of our new series of articles where we have as a writer and protagonist a man and his family struggling to survive the worst economic and social breakdown. Since the beginning of the crisis in Venezuela, they had to face extreme food shortages that lead to severe hunger, riots, a broken infrastructure amid an ongoing political and economic nightmare and a collapsed health care system being next to none existent.
The economic collapse in Venezuela has grown up to a societal breakdown where the murder rate is 20 times higher than in the U.S. ( Here you can find the first article in this series by the Venezuelan Survivor. )
It has been more than a week that I was not able to write anything. Two attempts for a new article ended up in a failure because of the power interruptions. The last time it went dark for almost three days.
For those of you that did not read my previous article, I have started to make some preparation when my second child was born. That happened right before the things started to go south here in Venezuela. Now, even if those preparations I made (to make our family’s life easier and safer without knowing what was about to happen) saved our lives in so many ways, I must say that I wish I would have started a lot earlier, even 1-2 years earlier would have been a life-changer for me and my family.
What You Need To Expect In A SHTF Situation
There are a few reasons I am writing these articles. The first being obviously I am getting paid and this helps a lot in my current situation when I have no other source of income. The second most important reason, I want to help as much as I can. We did go through a lot these past few years and somehow I doubt our lives are going to be the same as before this nightmare started. I want to share my experiences (and most of all failures) with everyone that is interested to keep his family safe and learn from mistakes made in real-life events. Make no mistake, today everything is nice and bright, and tomorrow the hell unleashes without any warning. This happened here in Venezuela and in so many other places before. This is lesson number one: don’t take what you have now for granted!
Be ready to survive by scavenging. As I mentioned before, I did have some preparations done before the SHTF here in Venezuela, but they are merely enough. Most of the parents are scavenging the dumpsters in desperation to find some food for their malnourished kids at home and so many of them died of hunger or proper medical care. I pray every day to God I don’t live enough to see my kids end up like that. Most of the population had no worries before SHTF and they did take everything for granted. Living in their social media groups and networks they had no time to raise the head up from the phones and PCs to see what was happening around. You can now see them running around like headless chickens.
Be ready to lose your preparation. You may read the above paragraph and say ”That won’t happen to me, I am prepared”. In April 2015 one of our wealthy neighbors lost his entire supplies. According to the Venezuelan government, they were ”hoarding” basic staples. This family, once they saw what was happening they begin to buy everything they could, making sure they will have enough for later on. In the end, they, and so many others, were left with nothing by the government. There are cases where people got robbed and lost all the things they had, including their lives (that is if you think they will take your stuff only from ”dead cold hands” that was actually the case in many situations). Make sure your supplies are stored in different locations and no one ever knows how much and where you have your supplies, otherwise those supplies you hardly made to save your life will end it instead. You can’t imagine what a group of desperately hungry people is capable of. Remember…everyone is for himself and his family only.
Be ready to survive a Martial Law. The reality of Venezuelan Martial Law is very simple. A government that is strong enough to provide everything you want, it is also strong enough to strip everything that you own. Venezuela was a pretty rich country with lots of oil supplies and so many resources that were poorly managed by the government, and now the people of Venezuela are facing the tyranny and the violence of the Venezuelan government. Even now at the end of 2019, Venezuela is facing a huge political turmoil that could turn into a dangerous military confrontation at any given moment.
Be ready to make hard decisions. You can’t afford to gamble anymore. Last year the supermarket was empty for about 3 days and rumors started to say that a truck of food and water was going to arrive in another two days. I could not afford to risk me and my wife decided that we need to make a drastic food rationing until we are able to re-supply again. The food trucked arrived but it was not full as intended. Somewhere along the way, more than half of the cargo was ”lost”. Saying no to your kid when they ask for an extra meal is one of the hardest decisions I had to make more than once. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for my two kids my wife as well, and so many times that was still not enough.
You need to plan ahead, and when the time comes take urgent steps and find the best outcome for every decision that you must make. Such efforts will help you to overcome the uncertainties generated along the way by different events. Some of your decisions will leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth not knowing if a different solution would have generated a better outcome…pass that stage as fast as you can. Don’t get stuck in such questions as they will affect your future actions.
Lifes must go on, and what an exciting journey life is, isn’t it? The important thing is that you make sure you’ve done all you could to keep your family safe.
Until next time. May God watch over you all, and I sincerely wish everyone a Merry Christmas and stay safe!
Also, I highly recommend this book to everyone. 300 pages, color paperback that makes it a perfect gift for the coming holidays. The Lost Book of Remedies is helping Americans achieve medical self-sufficiency even in the darkest times using the time-tested methods of our grandparents without spending lots of money on toxic drugs and without side effects. A great asset when doctors and hospitals won’t be available anymore. You may not be Claude Davis, but you can make use of his procedures and techniques to increase your chances of survival!
