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People line up to receive a meal distributed by Franciscan priests in Largo São Francisco, in the center of São Paulo
Dozens of people huddle in a line that doubles the block in downtown São Paulo. In the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic, social distance is disrespected and many do not wear a mask.
They are tramps, delivery men and people who work in the region who wait more than an hour for the fuel that will guarantee them energy for the rest of the day: a plate of food.
BBC News Brazil listened to the people who receive and distribute these donations to learn about the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on the access of the poorest people to food in the richest city in the southern hemisphere.
According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), more than 10 million Brazilians live in a situation of serious food insecurity. The survey, which refers to the years 2017 and 2018, also indicates that the total number of Brazilians who go hungry has grown, according to the agency, by 3 million people in five years.
‘It’s not just the people on the street’
Every Monday, Father José Mario Ribeiro leaves the Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Tatuapé) parish, on the east side of the capital, together with 12 other volunteers, to deliver 1,400 marmitex at Praça da Sé, in the center. According to him, today the number of meals is seven times higher than at the beginning of the year.
He says he noticed not only an increase in the number of people looking for hot food, but also the arrival of a different audience.
“It is no longer just the people on the street. We are realizing that many people come looking because they are unemployed and hungry. Just yesterday a man told me that he worked all day without eating and was waiting for a lunch box to be brought to us. that it would be their only meal, “said the priest in an interview with BBC News Brazil.
Credit, divulge
People who distribute food in the São Paulo capital report a change in the profile of those who receive donations after a pandemic
The priest says that if there were more donations and volunteers to produce the meals, they would run out. He said there are people who ask for an extra lunch box to take home with the family.
“Before the pandemic, we donated between 400 and 500 lunch boxes. If we make 2,000 today, everything ends,” he said.
But for these deliveries to reach the hands of the hungry, a chain is needed. It ranges from food donations, such as rice and beans, to production in an industrial kitchen and transportation, performed by a truck from a volunteer market vendor, who also donates fruits and vegetables.
For her to grow, the priest makes a call.
“We really need rice, beans and packaging. Two butchers make donations for us. We order rice and beans at the parish. Anyone who can help can take it to the parish or call (11) 2093-1920 to make donations. It is very worth it. help and I think that in our society we receive more than we donate, ”he said.
The parish also offers 300 meals on Wednesdays in three other parts of the city.
More than 3,000 meals a day
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Fransciscans distributes 2,400 meals a day in Largo São Francisco, in the center of São Paulo
300 meters from Praça da Sé, where the group led by Father José Mario donates on Mondays, Franciscan priests and volunteers distribute 1,200 meals a day and another 1,200 at dinner in Plaza São Francisco at lunchtime. In addition to another 300 marmitex in Glicério and 400 meals in the so-called Chá do Padre.
Brother João Paulo Gabriel, from the Franciscan Tent, said that the start of the pandemic in March marked the beginning of an explosion of people looking for food in downtown São Paulo.
“When the pandemic was decreed, people stopped making donations in the region and people who already knew about our service went to look for us at Rua Riachuelo, where Chá do Padre works. But we were not prepared. There was no kitchen, volunteers, but we obtained authorization to set up an outdoor tent, ”said the friar.
The group distributed about 300 meals a day at the site. In high demand and high visibility after the line was featured on television reports, the group attracted volunteers and donors willing to help with the purchase of food.
After the start of the pandemic, the volunteers noticed the approach of people with a different profile.
“We had an audience that was 100% homeless, but it changed. Today there are many people who live in occupations, people who have a house and cannot buy food. They are people who pouted and no longer, who no longer have a formal contract. There are desperate people who wonder how they will survive when the emergency relief ends, ”said Frei João.
He says that today the queue has narrowed a bit because many people have returned to donate in the region because they believe that the risk of contamination by the new coronavirus has decreased. “Bocas de rancho increased, as we say, and decentralized distribution,” he said.
However, the Franciscans say there has been a considerable drop in the number of volunteers, as most have returned to work and there is a lack of non-perishable food to put together basic food baskets.
Donations can be made on the website www.doesefras.org.br or directly at the site where Chá do Padre works, at 268 Riachuelo Street.
Family support
Credit, Association of Residents of Paraisópolis
Unemployed, Eneas de Camargo Nogueira depends on the lunch boxes delivered in Paraisópolis to feed himself
The Manos de María group arrives this Friday (10/16), World Food Day, at the mark of one million meals distributed in the Paraisópolis favela, the largest in São Paulo. The group began distributing lunch boxes on March 23, at the beginning of the pandemic. The intention, says Mãos de Maria Brasil founder Elizandra Cerqueira, was to primarily help people who lost their jobs in the pandemic, especially women.
“We have the mission of generating income in the favela through cooking and combating violence against women. Our initial goal would be to produce 2,000 lunch boxes a day, but the pandemic turned into something bigger than we anticipated and even we deliver 10,000 lunch boxes a day. ” in a mobilization with the G10 of favelas and private sector companies, ”he said.
Unemployed for a year, the 53-year-old goalkeeper Enéias de Camargo Nogueira is one of the people who receives the lunch boxes produced by Mãos de Maria on a daily basis.
“I’ve been trapped for three months and that’s what helps me stay in those times,” he said.
In the same row, Edmilson da Silva works in construction, but he is also unemployed. He carries three lunch boxes to share with his mother, father and sister.
“Only my father works. And this is very helpful, since we are currently without income,” he said.
The founder of Mãos de Maria points out that meals are essential to improve the immunity of the population.
“When a person runs out of food, they are much more vulnerable to diseases and also to the virus, with low immunity. In this crisis we welcome all who are hungry,” he said.
He said that starting this Friday the same work will also be done in the states of Pará, Pernambuco and the Federal District.
Every day, the so-called “street presidents” remove the lunch boxes from the central kitchen and bring them to the families they accompany. Each of them serves 50 households.
The work does not prevent the formation of lines in front of the place where the lunch boxes are produced. According to Elizandra Cerqueira, the first people arrive at 10 in the morning, but the first meals are delivered only at noon.
“People are desperate for fear of not getting food. Even if we explain, they want to stay there and wait more than two hours to make sure they have something to eat,” said the program’s founder.
Anyone who wants to can donate through the G10 favelas website: www.g10favelas.org
Older people receive food at home
But not everyone can leave home to get food. This is the case of Frida Braunstein Taranto, 95, one of the 700 people served daily by the Israeli charity group Ten Yad.
Taranto’s youngest son lived with her, but was a victim of covid-19 and died in July, at the age of 29. A widow for 15 years, she lives alone and doesn’t know what it would be like if she had to cook.
“The food they send is very tasty and healthy. I have received it at home since the beginning of the pandemic. An adequate quantity arrives for lunch and a pot of soup for dinner, aside from dessert. There is no way to complain, ”he said.
On Fridays, Taranto says, Ten Yad delivers not only the food of the day, but also Saturdays and Sundays, days when there is no distribution, frozen.
Rabbi Berel Weitman, Deputy Executive Director of Ten Yad, told BBC News Brazil that every day dozens of vans and passenger cars line up to collect lunch boxes and voluntarily deliver them in all regions of the city.
“Our work was founded in 1992 with a humble cafeteria, where elderly and needy people ate lunch. In 1994 we began to take home bedridden people with reduced mobility. A job we call” Meals on Wheels “or Meals on Wheels” says the rabbi.
In 2004, it started an alliance with the city government to help the elderly and vulnerable people registered with the municipal social service. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the service has adapted and has also begun to distribute baskets of basic food and personal hygiene kits.
In addition to the service, today 100 meals are already distributed to the little ones in the cafeteria located in Bom Retiro. The group also manages the 1500 meals offered at Bom Prato do Glicério for R $ 1.
“Today we are concerned, with a growing demand for food. More and more families are asking, especially the elderly who cannot cook. And we need more holy people to help us,” said Rabbi Berel Weitman.
Anyone interested in making donations can contact the group through the website (www.tenyad.org.br), make donations of food, clothes for the bazaar, become a monthly member or even make donations through the São invoice. Paul.
“I want to leave a phrase of Jewish wisdom. We believe that we are helping a person in need in situations like this. But the person in need does much more for the donor. This is one of the lessons we learned during the pandemic and that we cannot miss: the Solidarity”. .
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