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Teachers Who Don't Flee Venezuela Get Side Gigs to Survive

Associated Press

   CARACAS - Daixy Aguero holds her chin up when students wander by and
   are surprised to find their teacher selling makeup at a weekend Caracas
   street market. Aguero says it's the only way she can make ends meet on
   a teacher's pay in Venezuela.

   Some 40 percent of Venezuela's teachers have left their schools in the
   last three years, according to a union representing educators. They're
   escaping low pay and crumbling classrooms.

   Others like Aguero have stayed behind on the front line of the country
   in crisis.

   They keep teaching out of a passion that first drew them to education,
   while taking side gigs to feed their families. Aguero tells her
   kindergarten students who find her hawking lipstick, eyeliner and face
   cream that she's not ashamed.

   "I tell them you have to work," she said. "And you have to study."

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