Tag: food poverty

Standing taller…

Alan the food bank manager passes on some heartening news. “Elizabeth”, the Nigerian lady who came in two weeks ago with her baby, returned  to our London food bank on Friday with her children.  The older two were off school because of half term. At first the volunteers weren’t sure it was her.  Alan says she was much brighter, and “standing taller”.

When I interviewed her a fortnight ago, she was very low and so overcome by trauma that she spoke in a whisper. Her husband tried to commit suicide by hanging some weeks earlier. Her eight year old daughter had to fetch a knife to cut the rope.

Alan tells me: “We had a good chat and it seems that social services are now fully involved and are helping her. The kids were sweet and very engaging. It was so good to see her looking so much better, even though hubby is still in hospital and not making much progress. Still we pray….”

This food bank is one of almost 400 set up by the Trussell Trust – which partners with churches and communities to provide a supply of at least three days emergency food to those in a crisis. Alan is the kindest of people and devotes his life to providing practical help to his food bank clients. He also believes in the power of  divine intervention and prayer, as do many of the volunteers who help here in this borough.

I respect Alan’s strong Christian beliefs, which motivate him to do this work.  But  I’m much more of a believer in the power of citizens  to protest at this government’s targeting of  the poorest and most vulnerable. The current direction of welfare and immigration  policies is disturbing – and is turning people like Elizabeth and her family into England’s scapegoats.  A perceptive article in the New Statesman describes the Immigration Bill as an “explicit response” to public perceptions that the benefit system is a “magnet for migrants coming to access more generous benefits that they would receive at home, even though there is very little hard evidence of this…” This Bill, says the article’s author Alex Glennie, is “essentially a statement of intent and a triumph of symbolism over substance, designed to send a message that the government is serious about creating a hostile environment for those whose legal right to live and work in the UK is in question”.

I would guess that Elizabeth has contributed much to the UK.  She rents privately and is receiving maternity pay of £278 a fortnight from her job as a support worker for the elderly.  Elizabeth has been looking after London’s elderly parents and grandparents. Her maternity pay doesn’t cover her rent to the private landlord, food and bills.  Her husband had to leave his accountancy training course because of his depression and is still very ill following his suicide bid.  Elizabeth says he had to stop working while on the course because of changes in the visa rules (the couple are applying to stay permanently in the UK).

As well as myths about immigration, there are also an increasing number of  fables in circulation about why food banks are growing in “popularity” – for want of a better word. One of the 10 most common myths about food  banks is that they create dependency and don’t address the causes of poverty. If people come to a food bank more than three times in six months the system flags this so that the food bank manager can contact the service or person that referred them. They can then make sure a plan is in place to help the client overcome poverty. Elizabeth was referred by her GP,  who would seem to be very much on the ball and has made the referral to social services. Of course it won’t be easy for Elizabeth to improve her family’s circumstances quickly. But there are some optimistic signs now that she’s on the radar of  an alert GP and social services.

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Grateful single mum of five thanks the Trussell Trust

Volunteering in the food bank exposes you to the dark side of life in London. The circumstances of our clients’ lives are usually very grim. Sometimes what they’re contending with  is so ghastly that you wonder how some of our clients can get out of bed in the morning. Usually it’s because they have to function for their children’s sake – in the hope of  creating some sort of future for them. Not that many of them are in a situation where they can plan much beyond the next few meals.

When they can’t even do that, they end up here if they’re “lucky”. I’ll be posting some very difficult material over the next few days, but am starting today with something amazing. It shows how much one client who came along to this London food bank really values what happened here today.

Penny (not her real name) is a single mum of 38 with mental health issues. She’s been in an abusive relationship and has had to move house several times. She has five children ranging in age from 14 to four months.  She came into us with her eldest girl and her youngest – the baby in the pram. She was given her emergency food voucher by her community psychiatric nurse. I’ll talk more about Penny and her circumstances in the next few days. But she looked so happy when we gave her the emergency groceries for the six of them that I thought I’d linger a bit longer on the upside of  what goes on here. Penny said when we gave her the bags, which included nappies and formula milk:  “What a brilliant job you do here. If it wasn’t for people like you, people like me would lose their children and they would go into care. If you can’t feed your kids then that’s the next stage.”

Her baby woke up at that moment and smiled. Bringing a ray of sunshine into the room. As she left, with her 15 year old daughter (who wants to be a lawyer – I hope she makes it) helping to carry the bags, it was clear she was touched to experience practical support and a listening ear. Her massive difficulties were eased just a little, for a short while.