GRØNLAND (Dagbladet): It is early morning and the workers at Fattighuset are getting ready to deliver food bags to those who badly need it.
The queue outside Fattighuset is long, and stretches to the other side of the road. Over 600 people have stood in a cluster to get food this day.
Some know that they have to go home empty-handed. This is how it has been lately. Now the Poor House receives less food from companies and individuals, and at the same time more people have appeared in the food queues.
POOR QUEUE: Hundreds of people are waiting for help to get through Christmas. At Fattighuset in Oslo, it’s a hectic Christmas season. – We have received extra food from canceled Christmas parties, says Chairman Jansen Solvang. – I hope to get some Christmas food and maybe a present for my daughter, says Nurgima Asanovska. Video: Sondre Andreas Wedøe Nodland / Lars Eivind Bones Show more
Dagbladet visited the Poor House in both 2021 and 2022. Then the queue was more structured, where you could clearly see whose turn it was.
Now there is too little food for those present, and people are pushing forward.
– Not enough food
Emil, who has worked at Fattighuset for seven years, is getting ready to give the bad news to others in the queue.
– We don’t have enough food for everyone anymore, says Emil to Dagbladet.
STYRINGA: Emil distributes chocolate bars to those who do not receive food bags. He keeps order in the queue. Photo: Nina Hansen / Dagbladet Show more
The volunteers say that they only have 70 dinners to give out this day. They have almost only baked goods. And some fruit and vegetables.
– We are given out 410 bags of food today, but there are over 600 in the queue, says Kristin Aurlie to Dagbladet.
VOLUNTEER WORK: Most of those who help at Fattighuset do so completely free of charge. Front: Astrid Åsbakk, Kristin Aurlie, Arya Kalhor and Timmi Moen Guldbrandsen. Photo: Nina Hansen / Dagbladet Show more
Emil walks over to the food queue, blows a whistle and shouts a few words in Ukrainian, English, Arabic and Greek so that they understand. 70 percent of the visitors to the Poor House are Ukrainians.
He wears a pink reflective vest, like all the other volunteer workers. But it is Emil who goes to the queue cluster and counts up until he has to say stop.
Cancer patient
Further back in the queue stands Natalia Nahorniak (44) from Ukraine. She has been told that she will not receive a food bag today.
The 44-year-old came to Norway in the summer of 2022, as a refugee from Ukraine. She had to leave her family over a year ago, when she says they ran out of cancer drugs.
– I have breast cancer, and have had it since 2017. Last year, the hospital where I come from in Ukraine ran out of medicine. So then I came here for treatment, and am very grateful for it, says Natalia to Dagbladet.
IN THE FOOD QUEUE: Natalia Nahorniak stood in the food queue for a long time before she was told that she would not get a food bag. Photo: Nina Hansen / Dagbladet Show more
She says that the food at Fattighuset has become important to her, and she thinks it’s a shame that they don’t get enough food in for everyone. At the same time, she is very understanding, and thinks it must be because people give too little to the Poor House.
– I get some financial help as a refugee, but now my 14-year-old son has also come here to Norway. Then I have to go to the Poor House to get all the food we need. A bag of food from the Poor House means a lot to us, she says.
Fears food aid crisis: – Increased need
In the middle of the interview, one of the volunteer workers comes by. They hand out milk chocolates to some of those who did not receive a food bag. Natalia becomes one of them. But that doesn’t help much.
The manager of the poorhouse: – Few dinners
Lasse Storvik is chairman of Fattighuset, and is clear that they are not getting enough food in at the moment. They need more food, which is not already going bad.
CHAIRMAN: Lasse Storvik. Photo: Nina Hansen / Dagbladet Show more
– I know there are more people out there who can give food. If they want to, contact us at Fattighuset. Do not throw edible food in the bin. Throw it to us, says Storvik to Dagbladet.
He says they get a lot of salad, and some fruit and vegetables. The problem is that the fresh produce is often rotten and cannot be given out. Storvik is aware of what they lack.
THE TICKET: Everyone who turns up at Fattighuset when food is handed out, gets a ticket with a number on it. It shows when it is their turn. Photo all: Nina Hansen / Dagbladet
BAG OF FOOD: Here we see the size of the bag of food that the 410 people received on Wednesday. Around 200 attendees received a food bag, due to insufficient food.
THE FOOD: Here we see the contents of one of the bags. Some apples, a loaf of bread, cabbage and carrots, a kilo of potato salad, cucumber mix, and a soft drink.
– We need more meat, fish, proteins, nutritious dishes. Lately we have hardly had any dinners, only food that it is not possible to “live” on.
Crisis
Storvik says Fattighuset receives so few deliveries at the moment that they are now considering cutting food delivery days on Wednesdays and Fridays to just one day a week.
– What will it mean for those who stand in the queue here every week?
– I have stood in that queue myself, and it will be difficult for them. Then they have to find solutions elsewhere.
It has never been so expensive to be poor as it is now
– How should this situation be resolved?
– I think that many people and companies want to give, and we want to give it out. So get in touch, and we’ll come and collect the food, says Storvik.
Matsentralen: – Significant increase
This summer, Dagbladet interviewed the general manager of the Matsentralen, Per Christian Rålm. They deliver food on a weekly basis to over five hundred distribution points throughout Norway.
– This year we have seen a significant increase in people who need food, and I think this is due to the increased prices of food in the country. The need for food aid has increased dramatically, and even though we distribute more surplus food than ever before, it is not enough, Rålm said at the time.
Increasing price growth, higher interest rates and the weak krona have taken a toll on many residents in Norway.
SAYING FROM: Per Christian Rålm is general manager of the Food Centre. Photo: Jon T. Pedersen Show more
Sifo recently presented a report where it became clear that almost two out of ten households now have financial challenges.
Relative poverty is described by FN as poverty seen in relation to the majority of the population in a country. If you are poorer than most people in your country, you experience relative poverty.
2023-10-01 16:35:57
#Cancer #sufferer #Natalia #food
