Dominicans in upper Manhattan worry
When coronavirus cost Anna Melendes her job at a Washington Heights hair salon, she soon had trouble making ends meet — much less covering the bills for her sick mother in the Dominican Republic.
It’s a sad and common refrain on the streets of upper Manhattan, where many immigrants work hard to support their family in the city and their relatives on the island nation some 1,500 miles away. The spreading virus means their New York bank accounts are dwindling, while their hearts are aching for their needy Dominican relatives.
“How am I supposed to send money?” asked Melendes, 47, who moved to New York in 2003. “I used to send $60 a week for her medicine and things like that. But now I can barely afford to buy two bags of food. I don’t know how I’m going to do this. It’s a headache.”
The headache is spreading among the many Dominicans around the neighborhood. Some are sending money home to put their kids through school. Others are helping out their Dominican in-laws. Still others, like waitress Diana Martinez, are helping out their elderly parents.
The 39-year-old Martinez is responsible for feeding a 3-year-old son and her mother and father back home. But there’s only takeout orders these days at the El Condo Nuevo Bar and Restaurant on W. 175th St., with all of her tips now gone as the city and state try to stem the spread of the virus.
“How are you supposed to tell your son that there is no more food?” she asked rhetorically.
As for her mom and dad, “we weren’t able to send money and they are suffering because of it,” continued Martinez. “They depend on what I send, because my mom and dad are old and don’t work.”
Co-worker Eybelin Luna, 29, echoed the sad lament as the two women worked in a restaurant with no customers and only a few random calls for takeout or deliveries. And they can’t