Greece 2014: The society of soup kitchens…

By Maria Giachnaki

"Many times I thought to go to soup kitchens, but I preferred to be hungry than to go into this process that I consider extremely humiliating. But at the end I could not bear hunger."

These words belong to one of our fellow men and put us into thinking about whether, the homeless and hungry people of Athens should receive psychological support (apart from the soup Kitchens), to cope with the new order in their life.

It is not easy to stand in line for a portion of food, in 2014

Mr. K.K. who we met in one of the soup kitchens of Athens, lowered his head and confesses:

"I was hungry the first day; I was hungry the second day and the third day I said: it is okay, if I want to be able to walk tomorrow I must go to the soup kitchens and to eat ... I lost my pride, I lost my dignity ..."

The testimony of that needy Greek, follow us to the queue of the soup kitchens.

Athens 2014: The Greeks with bowed head, they cover their faces and stand in queues.

All, at the same time every day, with the same feelings, the same concerns, the same uncertainty about the future, are waiting patiently for a plate of food and some bread to feed their hunger.

In central parts, of the once proud city, the footsteps of people crawl in queues until it comes their turn to get their share.
George, 45-years old, father of two children, speaks about his experience at the soup kitchens, which have saved his life:
"The first time I did not like it; I did not like it because you have to look down. I have learned to look up. It is human to be homeless and unemployed."
30-year-old people visit the social services

The soup kitchens in Athens as in other cities of Greece, are deemed necessary for the survival of economically weak groups, elderly, unemployed, disadvantaged.

Many young people though, are waiting in the queues, near the elderly needy.

Yolanda Zogopoulou, is a psychologist in Welcome and Solidarity Center n the municipality of Athens. So far, has seen some incidents, which had no idea that existed in Greece.

"People in their 30 - 35 years, come for a plate of food because they do not have money even to buy a sandwich. They come in the social service and their psychological state is so bad that they cry, when they explain why they came to us."
Mr. Kon. Dimtsas, CEO of 'Mission' of the Archdiocese of Athens, who daily provide food for thousands of people, say: "People from 30 to 50 years are the majority of those who are seeking food at the soup kitchens of the archdiocese. This is causing us great fear and pain. The most creative part of our society is currently in weakness."

The "nouveau poor" stand in the queue.

Most of those waiting in the queue have university degrees. You can meet former businessmen who closed their businesses, artists, and family men who once held their briefcase and now are holding the dish, to put their food on.

Maria is 35 years old, with a university degree and speaks three foreign languages. The soup kitchens are the only way to survive. She never spoke to her relatives for her condition, since she believes that they cannot help her:

"I have one brother and one sister, married, never tried to reveal to them, the point at which I arrived. I try to have good communication and not to create any unpleasant situation for them. They have their own problems; I don't want to drive them crazy! And it is sure that they will go crazy, because they cannot help me. So in order not to put them in such a position I preferred to keep it a secret", she told in newsbomb.gr.

The 62-year-old M.N shakes his head in frustration but also with gratitude, because he finds even a portion of food:
"Everything collapsed. It's not because we're lazy. I was working, I got sick, I closed my business and due to the crisis I put a padlock. Then, I lost my health because of the crisis. Unfortunately, I could not to endure this, I could not bear. "

Some of them, perhaps the majority, come here in secret, without their families to know, or their friends, or their children. The modern Greeks are not used in similar situations, like the older Greeks of wars and occupation.

Some of them come to get food rations or other foods in order to take them at home without disclosing that they are from the soup kitchens. They try to keep their dignity, perhaps because human humility is something that we have not experienced in our daily lives.
A member of the committee of the soup kitchens, spoke to us about a typical case: "When we asked a mother to name a second beneficiary, in order to take things from the social grocery, she wept and refused saying that her children do not know that she takes the things from the social grocery, they think that she buys the food from a supermarket."

Human stories with "gray spots"

In the soup kitchens of the Archdiocese one can find dozens of such stories of people, which exhibit that the most crucial part of society is helpless.
Mothers from various parts of Athens arrive daily to get rations of food for their home. They ask for more servings, in order to place them in the pot, so that their children not to suspect that eat from the soup kitchens.

Nick, one of the homeless of Athens, former accountant in a company that closed, reveals: "for one month I used to sleep in benches, in various hospitals, until by private initiative I found an accommodation for me."

The offer of the Church is great.

The "Mission" of the Church, gives tons of food annually to the people who are suffering. Part of this supply comes from the solidarity of the Greeks. The Mission, during 2012, distributed 960 tons of food and 10,000 daily rations to people of central Athens. In 2014 it is estimated to exceed 1.7 million kilos.
But how could it be otherwise? The basic human need cannot be met. Before long, there were several people who were searching in the trash. Today we have even more poor people, with low-income and others who have lost their jobs. They belonged to middle-class and come here to seek help from social service", says a social worker of the municipality of Athens.

Suddenly Greece became Chain of soup kitchens, simply because it could not be otherwise.

The municipalities, dioceses but especially the Church of Greece were activated, in order to not leave people without food.

The soup kitchens were multiplied and the areas of Athens and the province were filled with organizations, which are giving food to the people that have no hope.
The soup kitchens of the Church of Greece from the beginning of the crisis were supported financially to date, on a monthly basis, by the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi. The Vatopedi Monastery even apart from soup kitchens offered to the Archdiocese, offers food to Dioceses in Greece, in social groceries, in institutions and in nursing homes. Furthermore, it helps for the release of our fellow citizens who went to prison for debts and helps large families.
The abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Ephraim, explains to newsbomb.gr that:

"Always Vatopedi offered assistance in many areas, in many institutions, in monasteries, by the grace of God. Despite the problems that exist in our monastery, we try to help people, because our consciousness requires it. It is the duty of the monasteries, because until now the faithful gave to the monasteries, now we see that believers want to take from the monasteries. In this period, the believers can turn to the monks. The economic crisis is related to the spiritual, creates gaps in humans, and if not treated they harden and grow, creating situations which is not to the hand of man. The Holy Monastery of Vatopedi does not help by itself. It has friends who offer us, in order us to offer to the people and this fact saves us today."

Malnourished students

When in the Greek schools, young students are hungry and some of them faint due to hunger in the school yard, when young students faint from hunger at the universities, when people commit suicide considering that they have nothing to offer in their family, then we cannot ignore the problem.
Deficiencies in health care

The soup kitchens have highlighted other problems of Greek society. There are not only hungry people, but also ill people who need medicines. There are cancer patients who have no doctors and drugs and pregnant uninsured mothers that had never seen a doctor. There are elderly people without money, with severe health conditions.

The medical visitor, Giannis Iatrou, tells newsbomb.gr that: "What made us really feel overwhelmed, was when a woman who was around 28-years old, pregnant in the 9th month, came to our office, we realized that she had never been examined by a doctor. When she was examined, we found the most tragic. That she had cancer which she did not even know, because she had no money to go to a doctor."

The picture of society has changed in recent years. In 2010, the people who went to soup kitchens were 75% immigrants; now the majority is Greeks. The percentage grows daily, since unemployment and uncertainty about the future cannot find cure in a country without brackets.
Heart excess during the crisis

What about the dreams and the future plans of the generations? Can they invest on their hunger on their agony? Do most of those who struggle with hunger have the strength to fight for tomorrow?

There are people, who despite the misfortune and the state that are experiencing, they find the strength to help other fellow human beings who are in worse state and this is a great lesson of life. Because when we satiate our hunger, we should make a step further.
Katerina is homeless and she lives in a hostel of the municipality, and she has been awakened by all that she sees around her: "if I hear from my fellow man that someone needs or wants healthcare, I take him in voluntary groups, which offering what he needs."
Volunteering has "flourished" and sprang human feelings from the hearts of young and old. They rushed to help to the work of humans, even with their small force.

"We know that we must act to help people who are in a difficult situation, in order them to cope and to be able to recover in the future, stresses John Kouris, a member of scouting movement. It is an opportunity for us to offer social work which has duration and to help as we can, to this effort."
The state must not ignore this situation any more

Do the soup kitchens must mirror our now society? Must they determine the daily life of citizens, who are standing in the queue?
For so long the economic and social crisis will sending the citizens of this country in queues?

For how long you should the mother place the food of the soup kitchens in her pot, in order to hide the bad reality from her children?
For how long the Greek people will ask for charity?

An observation of a volunteer in committee of soup kitchens, who is unemployed psychologist, is characteristic.

"It goes without saying, that these moves mainly by the Church and by some municipalities help our fellow man.
But we have to show great care in dealing with some facts. Our concern must be not only to fill our stomach, but also to reactivate ourselves. If we stay only in the fact that we have provide our food and the soup kitchens become a habit, then this is very dangerous. We must activate the unemployed, in order to find something to do, to find a work, to operate. I think this is another missing piece of the charity. We must help our fellowman to obtain an activity, even a small one."

The society of soup kitchens should not remain in the queues, must become a creative society in communion with values, a society that overcomes the sufferings and gets prepared to fight.

These incentives should be given by the State, which currently seems to have been settled, by the charitable movements of the church and other organizations, thus fulfilling its obligations to citizens.

But the shame is not washed away by closing the eyes, not to see that the next step should be yours...