Athens: Numerous migrant women and young children who have been left exposed by Greece's dwindling asylum support programmes queue for food donations in a hidden flat in one of Athens' poorest neighbourhoods.
Nigerian Deniz Yobo, 33, has purchased enough rice, lentils, flour, honey, and biscuits to stock her kitchen cabinets for the upcoming month. Yobo, a single mother of two, saw her meagre salary virtually wiped out this year by the skyrocketing cost of living in Greece.
She makes less than €500 ($550) a month as a part-time cleaner, which is just enough to cover her 350-euro rent. She admitted that she frequently ran out of money to feed her sons by the middle of the month.
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Greece has been gradually reducing the benefits provided to refugees and asylum seekers as attitudes towards immigrants in Europe become more hostile. Once an applicant for asylum is granted refugee status, financial assistance of a few hundred euros per month comes to an end. An EU-funded programme that had provided rented housing to tens of thousands of refugees over the previous seven years was terminated by Athens in December.
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Notis Mitarachi, the then-minister of migration, stated at the time that "the programme has completed its mission," adding that the "few" claimants had been transferred to "modern" camps. Fahima, a 20-year-old Afghan woman, was one of those left on the street by the action.
A small studio apartment with another eight people became available for her and her mother to live in after a few months. Fahima, who has lived in Greece for the past six years, had her request for asylum denied.
Due to this, she is in violation of the law and is not eligible to receive any type of government assistance. She said, "I am in a terrible situation where I have no government assistance and I cannot find employment either.
Over 5,000 migrants and refugees received food over the course of the last 18 months from Intersos, a humanitarian aid organisation, with 54% of them being minors. The beneficiaries of the "Food for All" programme, according to Matina Stamatiadou, are refugees, denied asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, and immigrants who may have jobs but receive "poverty assistance."
The waiting list for these monthly distributions has increased fourfold to more than 2,000 people in just one year, she claimed. People in extreme need, such as single mothers with young children or those who suffer from serious health issues, are given preference. Greece still regards itself as a transit nation. But many of the refugees who have been residing here for a while now want to integrate. However, Stamatiadou noted that "the government has failed to implement an effective policy for this purpose." Around 15,000 refugees in Athens, according to Intersos Greece general director Apostolos Veizis, lack access to well-balanced daily meals. Veizis stated that being hungry makes it impossible to look for work, handle legal matters, or take care of one's health.
"To get money, you're also prepared to put yourself in danger, to do illegal activities, to borrow without being able to repay," he emphasised.
According to UN standards, nearly 60% of those assisted by the organisation only had access to adequate food between once and three times a week, placing them in a situation of severe food insecurity.
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According to Apostolos Veizis, children's physical and mental development is negatively impacted by hunger.
Cynthia Efionandi, also from Niger, is 30 years old. "My children don't go to school sometimes because they haven't eaten and are too tired," she said.
According to Veizis, "we hear terrible accounts of hungry kids passing out in class" and adolescent girls skipping class when they are on their period because their parents can't afford to buy them sanitary towels.