[ad_1]
Hundreds of Portuguese in Luxembourg turn to solidarity associations to avoid hunger, after losing precarious jobs due to the pandemic, but the majority, even without means, refuse to return to Portugal, where they left poor.
“They are hungry. They are at home and have nothing to do, which leads to arguments. The children do not understand. It is very sad,” Portuguese José Trindade, founder of Associação CASA, a social support center that currently told Lusa supports. nearly 80 Portuguese families dealing with unemployment.
José Trindade, who founded this center in 1980 to help other Portuguese to overcome the difficulties he felt when he emigrated to Luxembourg in the 1970s, does not hide his concern about the current crisis, which he qualifies as one of the worst in history.
Despite the fact that the majority of Portuguese in Luxembourg have, for now, good living conditions, those who arrived in recent years through employment agencies, with precarious contracts, have so far not achieved a stability capable of withstanding the impact of a crisis like the one you live. “Many were unemployed overnight, especially in the areas where the Portuguese work most: cleaning, construction and restoration.”
Luxembourg, where about 100,000 Portuguese live (about a sixth of the population, estimated at 600,000 inhabitants), currently has new measures to combat the pandemic, such as curfews, wearing a mask in meetings with more than four people, cafes and restaurants closed at 11 pm, limiting the number of people received at home to four and prohibiting meetings with more than 100 people.
At CASA, the Portuguese find an “immediate answer”, since they were left without income and mainly because they also had low income, in a country where “no one can live without money” that ensures, that is, the payment of the house.
This social center invests about three thousand euros a month in supporting these families, an expense that is increasing and that forces the association to resort to creative initiatives to raise funds, such as the recent sale of chestnuts. But there are other urgent needs, such as psychological support for these families in crisis, who arrive there in a “very serious” emotional state.
The lack of funds also puts José Trindade asleep, who expresses concern about the associations that before the covid-19 pandemic supported the Portuguese community through initiatives that went far beyond cultural manifestations and are now on the doorstep. closed and at risk. close. And the concerns also extend to CASA, where “41 people work to help solve other people’s problems.” “These people need the job.”
In addition to the recently arrived Portuguese with precarious employment contracts, those who occupy more differentiated tasks and are currently teleworking are also at risk. “I’ve heard that when telecommuting ends, they don’t go back to their jobs,” he said. According to José Trindade, the situation will worsen when workers are left without the “social cushions” offered by the Luxembourg state.
For all these reasons, the associative leader maintains that the Portuguese State should look more to the institutions. “We are not looking to replace consulates or embassies. We are different, but we need a budget to help embassies and consulates,” he said.
Speaking to Lusa, the Portuguese ambassador to Luxembourg, António Gamito, spoke out against the permanence of the Portuguese affected by poverty in the country. “It is better to return and live with dignity than to be here waiting,” he said, referring that the situation of these unemployed Portuguese tends to worsen, because their professions, less classified, are the most affected. He added: “If people are unemployed and cannot find work quickly, the poverty situation will get worse.”
According to António Gamito, there are “few” cases of repatriation requests to Portugal that reach the embassy: half a dozen since the start of the pandemic. In his opinion, even in the midst of difficulties, “these Portuguese seem to believe that they will be able to overcome the situation, because they are receiving some help, which is very little and insufficient to have a living condition in this country, which is one of the most expensive in Europe. ” The diplomat stressed that, in general, the Portuguese community lives well in Luxembourg.
[ad_2]
