Maria works 12 hours a day at a casino for less than minimum wage to be able make ends meet for herself and her two children.
"I work for small money so I have to put in overtime to be able to live," Maria told the Sunday Guardian.
She works hard.
However, Maria is not supposed to work here as she is an asylum seeker in this country.
An asylum seeker is the status given to someone still awaiting the process of being recognised as a refugee.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee is "a person who has fled their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion".
Maria believes she fits that definition.
In the region, T&T is the third most popular country for asylum seekers.
As of May, there were 336 applications for asylum in this country.
In 2016 there were 163 asylum applications with Venezuelans accounting for the second largest number of asylum seekers here.
Late last year, Maria fled her family's home at Cumana in the Sucre State, Venezuela, because of the ongoing crisis in that country.
At the time, Maria made the decision to flee her home, residents of the area had begun looting supermarkets to get food to be able to eat.
Venezuela's financial crisis had hit her home-town hard, Maria said.
She entered T&T illegally through Cedros
Maria said she could not see her family suffering, so she boarded a ferry from Venezuela to T&T.
She entered the country legally through the Cedros port with the hope of trying to make a better life with some family she already had living here.
Maria left her two children and her husband in Venezuela.
When she reached this country, she began the process of trying to become a refugee.
Maria went to the Living Water Community (LWC) in Port-of-Spain, where she was registered and referred to both the UNHCR office here and the Immigration Division.
The Immigration Division took her passport and legalised her status in T&T as an asylum seeker until her Refugee Status Determination (RSD) is completed.
The RSD is the process by which a person seeking international protection is considered a refugee.
The RSDs take time and for Maria, it is still ongoing.
"I know some people who have been waiting for three and four years, but I wait," Maria says.
Three months after Maria came here, her husband and her two children joined her here.
However, things took a toll on their relationship and eventually Maria and her husband separated and he returned to Venezuela.
'My children need an education'
She and the two children—aged 13 and six—remain in T&T.
For Maria, life in this country has been easier than for other Venezuelan asylum seekers because she has family who are locals living here and she speaks English fairly.
However, she also faces some of the difficulties others Venezuelans here have.
Apart from not being able to work legally and being exploited and sometimes sexually harassed as a result of that, her children are also unable to go to school because of their status.
To Maria, her children being unable to access education here is the worst part of it all.
"With asylum you are not supposed to work. I don't have a work permit and the children can't go to school because they are not local children but they need an education," Maria said.
The LWC, however, has basic classes a few days a week to help the children.
Maria takes advantage of this opportunity every chance she can.
Maria said it was hurtful to see that when Dominica was hit by a hurricane earlier this year this country realised the importance of opening its doors to pupils from there to help them with their education but, on the other hand, have not given the same offer to her children who are suffering.
This will be the second Christmas that Maria and her children will be celebrating in this country.
"I sometimes miss home but here is still better than there," Maria said.