Greece's food crisis: families face going hungry during summer shutdown

forehead report charities that up to 90% of families living in the poorest neighborhoods rely on food banks and soup kitchens. But with no end to austerity, even volunteers flag

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Hunger is not a word that comes easily to me Antonis Antakis. And 28 Veikou Street, within the narrow limits of the Solidarity Club, not a word mentioned again. But the fear of not having enough to eat is the force that drives the left here - and what keeps stacking tireless volunteer rice, pasta and other dry food for the Greeks as Antakis take home

"The truth is, if I did not come here do not have the means to feed my children," said the father of three children recently widowed, her eyes fixed on the ground. " Three years ago, when I was the boss and had two employees, the idea of ??going anywhere food gathering would have been inconceivable. At that time, I was earning € 3,000 (€ 2,600) per month and the fridge was always full. "

The task of ensuring that families Antakis the power during the summer became more marked on the weekend and the Greeks ready to take their traditional summer break, which affects the delivery basic services such as food distribution to the poor.

Normally, the view of the Orthodox Church - or any other charity - man in August new scale would have gone unnoticed. But indebted Greece is impossible to ignore. Against a backdrop of record unemployment, and stuck in its worst crisis in modern times countries, the challenge is the surface in a way that few would have predicted. Hunger and malnutrition are part of this spectrum.

For Antakis and growing depends on soup kitchens, which will now be deprived of external support, in August became the cruelest month.

"I'm really worried that one day I will not be able to feed my kids at all," lamented the old soil layer 39, a taxi driver was. "If the boss, now I'm happy if I win € 500 per month. Can not live it and pay all your bills and debts and any taxes you shoot, and still survive. "

With its dedicated and knowledgeable mind-the Solidarity Club is similar to many other established by concerned citizens horrified by the corrosive effects of austerity groups. It is, but not supported by the local branch of the opposition party of the radical left, SYRIZA.

In a telling sign of the disintegration of the social fabric seat Greece Veikou Street sit on the outer edge decrepit capital trapped in a sixth year of recession, but at its center, the streets of boulevard dearest to Athens and the Acropolis.

"I had no idea and I was surprised to learn that people in this neighborhood, in the streets, in all buildings that occur every day, while they were suffering "said Ms. Panaghiota Mourtidou of 54, the organization co-founder, active packaging food boxes." After all, we are talking about the middle class, which for a long time were too embarrassed to admit they had this kind of problem. "
• malnourished children have finally given away the secret in the midst of national reports of schoolchildren fainting. "Teachers have been cases of children who have been to school with nothing but rice or stale biscuits to inform months," recalled Mourtidou. "That's when we decided to work with parents' associations and traces families. With collections of food in supermarkets road now we feed about 130 people twice a month. "
• the country teetering useful to another brochure, an atmosphere of quiet desperation grows in Greece. The politics of poverty - caused by the incessant cuts, tax increases and job losses required in exchange for bailout funds from the EU and the IMF - has left debris in its wake
The Greek Orthodox Church only feeds about 55,000 people per day, city officials have distributed 7,000 meals at soup kitchens near Athens. "Normally, we do not close, but the women volunteers who cook in the kitchen of the church around Athens needs a break," said Father Timothy, spokesman of the Holy Synod, the body church leader.

"At all levels, people find it very difficult. Demand for food has increased dramatically," said the Guardian, assuming that if necessary could not go to church central room were likely to face enormous difficulties.

In the town of Neos Kosmos, a working class neighborhood, where people are often seen scavenging for food in the weekly fruit and vegetable market, Christos Provezis say more clearly. "There was a time that a person of 10 went to the soup kitchen," said the unemployed civil engineer who started his own group solidarity in the region last year. "Today is more like nine out of 10.
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