Coronavirus: artisans, small businessmen, caretakers and even those who worked illegally: a journey among the new poor of Sicily. “Some are hungry for the first time. Many are ashamed to ask for help”

Fishermen, bricklayersitinerant day laborers, non-contract employees. But also artisans, tailors, cabinetmakers. And even those who invisible They were already there: prostitutes, spianti who opened between an abusive parking lot and the small store, parents of the family who brought bread to the table with a thousand tasks. And many women, usually black caregivers with prison husbands and dependent children: they were already at risk, today they are practically forced into poverty. The other side of the emergency coronavirus in Sicily it has a seven-letter name: poverty. indeed new poverty. One of the least wealthy regions of the country is experiencing the consequences of confinement to combat contagion. Also because it was already among the most economically vulnerable.

“Four times higher risk default” – According to the last report. SVIMEZ in the south, where recovery from the 2008 crisis has been slower, today there is a risk of default for medium-sized companies it is four times greater than in the rest of Italy. But not only the productive fabric has been the most affected by the general closure in the South. To see how their lives changed, especially those already struggling to make ends meet. Are the 800 thousand irregular workers, which, again according to Svimez, were active in southern Italy. An estimate probably made by default: according to the CGIL, only in the province of Palermo a worker in four is in black. In fact it was. After medical attention, the main consequence of coronavirus has been creating new poor people in every corner of the Sicily.

“In San Cristoforo, always hungry. Now new poverty “- In the Catania neighborhood San Cristoforo, one of the most difficult in the city, especially the ex-irregular ones are in misery, that is, those who worked illegally before the emergency. To help them is a cultural association in the area, Gammazitewho became to food assistance when he saw social tension grow: “These neighborhoods they are always hungry. But he added a new poverty, of those who despite not having a contract brought home a salary to feed the family and now they can no longer do so. “In the first half of April, Gammazita turned around six hundred families in one room: “Here hunger is great and it’s real“Says Veronica, spokesperson for the association. In the houses of San Cristoforo habitability conditions are at the limit: “We are talking about families with six or seven children.often two families under one roof. His life, his tables are difficult to imagine: without a refrigerator, without a kitchen, without electricity. It’s surreal but it’s the truth. “For the inhabitants of this neighborhood. public aid does not come: many do not even know how to request them. And the coronavirus has precipitated a situation that is already on the brink. “Many don’t have a smartphone, maybe they have a hard time writing and reading.” And to take the place of the institutions, only with donations, the volunteers fear that they will not last long: “State aid must be different, generalized. And it must eliminate bureaucracy, because these people without the Café cannot present the practices “

“Many are ashamed to ask for help” – In the popular district of Catania, most of the women ask for help: they were caregivers and with their wages they fed an entire family. Or sometimes even two: even those of children, seven people in total. “Today, they say from the association, I am at home and for the first time in his life they are asking someone for food aid. One of them called us saying: we are hungry, if I had an alternative, I would never take bread from families who are more unfortunate than mine, but today I have nothing else to bring to the table. “Many are ashamed of the situation in the They are. “There are cases in which already on the phone, so they do not ask, we understand perfectly that they are on the edge. They tell us: we do not mind eating, we ask for something for our children, the important thing is that they eat them” . In San Cristoforo, poverty has two sides: “There is no need to hide it,” says Gammazita. many people in this neighborhood are also families of drug dealers they are not selling because nobody is around. “But there are also those who worked honestly and today cannot get used to living in these conditions:” Many families are generous and have great dignity. In the previous days Easter Thanks to donations, we managed to bring a chocolate egg to the children in the room. Some mothers, in their fifties, had already had an egg, so they told us: I leave it and give it to the next one, I don’t want my son to have two and another son, not even one. “

“After years of saving my time had come, now I don’t know how it will be” – Creative artisans are also suffering, who started selling their products at fairs and today they have a small workshop. There are over three hundred in Sicily, members of the Association of Free Craftsmen and Artists. Balarm (Alab), a non-profit organization that brings them together under one statute. Even when they have stores installed for years, their income is mainly microscopic and the tantu do not meet the requirements to open a VAT number. They produce most of the products between January and March, to see all the income for the year from May to September: they live on tourism, town festivals and weddings. For them, the difficulties at the moment are enormous, like Giusi, stylist of castelbuono that produces tailor-made haute couture: “We are not in black and we always issue a receipt however we are not part of any Confartigianato nor of Confindustria and we are not materially recognizable. “They have different life stories: there is Giuseppe, cabinetmaker in his fifties who has a laboratory in the heart of Ballarò and now use municipal purchase vouchers; There are two young couples who create accessories and fashion items. They had started a family that saw prospects but now they will have to reinvent themselves: meanwhile, they are leaning on their parents. In anticipation of the summer, some were about to open the Number of IVA but his plans are frozen and there are those who move: “After years of saving my time had come, now I don’t know how it will go “. They are also concerned with phase two: They don’t know if tourism will resume, and some of the manufacturing processes require close contact. Giusi asks: “How can I make a formal dress? 1.5 meter distance or with mask and gloves? “