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GENEVA: More than 1,000 people queued on Saturday (May 9) to get free food packages in Geneva, underscoring the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on poor workers and undocumented immigrants, including in wealthy Switzerland.
The line of people stretched more than 1 km outside an ice rink where volunteers distributed around 1,500 packages to people who started queuing at 5 in the morning.
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“At the end of the month, my pockets are empty. We have to pay the bills, the insurance, everything,” said Ingrid Berala, a Geneva-based Nicaraguan resident who works part-time. “This is great, because there is food for a week, a week of relief … I don’t know for next week.”
Bags of food and essentials received from donations are ready to be distributed to people in need at the Vernets ice rink in Geneva after the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Geneva, Switzerland, May 9 2020. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse
In a nation of nearly 8.6 million, 660,000 people in Switzerland were poor in 2018, says the Caritas charity, particularly single parents and those with a low level of education who cannot find work after losing a job.
More than 1.1 million people were at risk of poverty, which means they have less than 60 percent of median income, which was 6,538 Swiss francs ($ 6,736) for a full-time job in 2018.
A hashtag tag, “Love Shopping” is pictured on a cart as people line up to receive bags of donated food and essentials at the Vernets ice rink in Geneva after the outbreak of coronavirus disease ( COVID-19), Geneva, Switzerland, May 9, 2020. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse
Swiss bank UBS has calculated that Geneva is the second most expensive city in the world for a family of three, behind only Zurich. While average earnings are also high, that does little to help people struggling to make ends meet.
“I think a lot of people are aware of this, but it is different to see it with their own eyes,” said Silvana Matromatteo, director of aid group Geneva Solidarity Caravan.
“We had people crying who said ‘It is not possible that it is happening in my country’. But it is here and perhaps COVID-19 brought everything to light and this is good, because we will be able to take measures to support all these workers, because they are workers above all. “
Patrick Wieland, chief of mission for Doctors Without Borders group, said a survey conducted last week showed that just over half of the food recipients interviewed were undocumented, while others had reached legal status, were Swiss or were seeking asylum .
Just over 3 percent had tested positive for COVID-19, three times the overall rate in Geneva, which it attributed to poor and overcrowded housing.
“In Geneva, one of the richest cities in the world, there have always been people who live precariously, especially all people who work as housewives, in agriculture, on construction sites or in hotels, and they found all the night without work due to COVID-19, “he said.
People queue to receive bags of food and essentials received from donations at the Vernets ice rink in Geneva after the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Geneva, Switzerland, May 9, 2020. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse
An illegal immigrant calling himself Fernando said he lost his job at a restaurant during the crisis and had no salary.
“I am very grateful to receive this help and if the situation changes for me, I promise to do what they are doing for me,” he said.
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