NY Times: More Children in Greece Start to Go Hungry

southsiderosie

NY Times: More Children in Greece Start to Go Hungry

Last year, an estimated 10 percent of Greek elementary- and middle-school students suffered from what public health professionals call “food insecurity,” meaning they faced hunger or the risk of it, said Dr. Athena Linos, a professor at the University of Athens Medical School who also heads a food assistance program at Prolepsis, a nongovernmental public health group that has studied the situation. “When it comes to food insecurity, Greece has now fallen to the level of some African countries,” she said.

Unlike those in the United States, Greek schools do not offer subsidized cafeteria lunches. Students bring their own food or buy items from a canteen. The cost has become insurmountable for some families with little or no income. Their troubles have been compounded by new austerity measures demanded by Greece’s creditors, including higher electricity taxes and cuts in subsidies for large families. As a result, parents without work are seeing their savings and benefits rapidly disappear.

“All around me I hear kids saying: ‘My parents don’t have any money. We don’t know what we are going to do,’ ” said Evangelia Karakaxa, a vivacious 15-year-old at the No. 9 junior high school in Acharnes.

Acharnes, a working-class town among the mountains of Attica, was bustling with activity from imports until the economic crisis wiped out thousands of factory jobs.

Now, several of Evangelia’s classmates are frequently hungry, she said, and one boy recently fainted. Some children were starting to steal for food, she added. While she did not excuse it, she understood their plight. “Those who are well fed will never understand those who are not,” she said.

I can buy the argument that Greece has dug itself into this hole with its numbers-fudging and out of control government spending.

I can buy the argument that many European countries need to make painful labor market reforms.

What I cannot buy is the idea that children anywhere in Europe should be going hungry in school. This is a disgrace. At a minimum, the EU should be somewhat engaged in food security issues among member states: for example, given how much the EU spends in agricultural subsidies, it does not seem unreasonable that some of that food should be redirected to ensure that children get at least one decent meal during the school day. And whatever other cuts that the ECB/IMF call for, there should be some minimum standard for cutting social service programs: school lunches are relatively cheap in the greater scheme of things, especially when you consider the negative effect that hunger has on learning.

Dravokivich

The EU controls the amount of food produced from farms to artificially hold the value of food resources. They are not going to give out a load of it for free, which would in turn devalue food resources.

mariaalice

A lot of this is about how choices are made by a government/society. If a given government has only a certain amount of money to spend on welfare of what ever sort, the said government could decide to provide a free school meal instead of any other sort of welfare help to family's and thats what Greece should be doing no child in need should go hungry.

not yet

As I have said 100 times .....Rich get richer and greedy get greedier.

Boombastic

This is terrible, can they even speak Hungarian?

squod

Breaking news 'Financial Terrorists Don't Give Fuhk About Children shocker'.

davet82

yeah but they still have sunshine and swimming pools, the little feckers

WayneMolloy

Seachmall wrote: »

I don't see what Hungry doesn't just close off it's borders to them.

The thirst for thanks is strong in this one.:D

Absolutely horrible situation for sections of the Greek populace. Iirc both the communist party and the right wing golden dawn party, have set up food drives and breakfast clubs to help those on the brink of poverty.

Perhaps they could put down their ideological differences and work together on this one?

biko

No-one ever bring up the Greek pet poverty. Those pets can't feed themselves y'know :mad:

The Backwards Man

I find this hard to believe. The Greeks are pretty experienced at telling a good story, as recent and ancient history has taught us.

latenia

Yet they're still the 2nd fattest kids in the world:

According to the recent findings of the University Mental Health Research Institute (UMHRI), Greece has the second-highest rate in childhood obesity internationally after the USA.

More specifically, 21.9 percent of teenagers in Greece (pupils in the sixth grade, the classes of Junior High School and first grade of High School) were heavier than normal, while 16.3 percent of the problem concerns girls.

Just make the fatties share more...

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/02/20/greece-has-second-highest-childhood-obesity-rate-in-the-world/

HondaSami

There are people hungry people in Ireland as well, me for one, must be lunchtime.

davet82

latenia wrote: »

Yet they're still the 2nd fattest kids in the world:



Just make the fatties share more...

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/02/20/greece-has-second-highest-childhood-obesity-rate-in-the-world/

that sort of explains why they're hungry

Isn't the percentage roughly the same in Ireland?

clairefontaine

This is going on in Ireland too.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-than-20pc-of-children-will-go-to-school-hungry-today-says-study-26843737.html

southsiderosie

clairefontaine wrote: »

This is going on in Ireland too.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-than-20pc-of-children-will-go-to-school-hungry-today-says-study-26843737.html

That article suggests that kids aren't getting breakfast or dinner at home, but is there a school lunch program in Ireland? There isn't in Greece and that is part of the problem.

clairefontaine

southsiderosie wrote: »

That article suggests that kids aren't getting breakfast or dinner at home, but is there a school lunch program in Ireland? There isn't in Greece and that is part of the problem.

Certainly not in rural areas. I dont know about Dublin. There is no canteen. I pack a lunch everyday and it goes into school and they sit and watch Tom and Jerry in the classroom while they eat their lunch.

No I am not joking.

WayneMolloy

southsiderosie wrote: »

That article suggests that kids aren't getting breakfast or dinner at home, but is there a school lunch program in Ireland? There isn't in Greece and that is part of the problem.

No. The traveller kids used to get milk and hot cross buns in my old school. Everyone else brought their own lunch.

The state should work out how much parents pay for their kids lunch, on average. Then deduct that amount from the child benefit paid out each month and provide lunch to all children in state schools. This would save the state money, as they would be buying the ingredients in bulk, create jobs and ensure that every child gets one nutritious meal a day.

southsiderosie

Dravokivich wrote: »

The EU controls the amount of food produced from farms to artificially hold the value of food resources. They are not going to give out a load of it for free, which would in turn devalue food resources.

The Common Agricultural Policy already allows for the distribution of some of its surplus stock for food aid within the EU. Targeting school lunches would be an extension of existing policy.

WayneMolloy

clairefontaine wrote: »

Certainly not in rural areas. I dont know about Dublin. There is no canteen.

No I am not joking.

Same in Dublin. Contrary to popular belief, we arent treated much better up here.

HondaSami

clairefontaine wrote: »

Certainly not in rural areas. I dont know about Dublin. There is no canteen. I pack a lunch everyday and it goes into school and they sit and watch Tom and Jerry in the classroom while they eat their lunch.

No I am not joking.

what's wrong with this? I'm not in favour of school dinners tbh, it's the same as most things people on welfare get them free and everyone else has to pay for them.
If you have a few children in school paying for dinners can be expensive

mariaalice

clairefontaine wrote: »

Certainly not in rural areas. I don't know about Dublin. There is no canteen. I pack a lunch everyday and it goes into school and they sit and watch Tom and Jerry in the classroom while they eat their lunch.

No I am not joking.

I know this is a bit off topic but that a disgrace children should not be watching a TV or DVD in school, except as a very rare treat would you not complain to the school?

clairefontaine

southsiderosie wrote: »

The Common Agricultural Policy already allows for the distribution of some of its surplus stock for food aid within the EU. Targeting school lunches would be an extension of existing policy.

A lot of schools dont have kitchen facilities. Even if they had a programme they couldn't execute it.

clairefontaine

mariaalice wrote: »

I know this is a bit off topic but that a disgrace children should not be watching a TV or DVD in school, except as a very rare treat would you not complain to the school?

mary alice, I have to choose my battles. I have written to them about missing toilet seats, lack of locked doors and security already and other basic infrastructural deficiencies. They are sick of me.

HondaSami

WayneMolloy wrote: »

No. The traveller kids used to get milk and hot cross buns in my old school. Everyone else brought their own lunch.

The state should work out how much parents pay for their kids lunch, on average. Then deduct that amount from the child benefit paid out each month and provide lunch to all children in state schools. This would save the state money, as they would be buying the ingredients in bulk, create jobs and ensure that every child gets one nutritious meal a day.

Are they nutritious really, always seemed like hospital food to me. I think children are better getting nutritious meals at home.

southsiderosie

clairefontaine wrote: »

A lot of schools dont have kitchen facilities. Even if they had a programme they couldn't execute it.

Kids don't need a hot lunch - a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a carton of milk in a brown paper bag would be enough to make a difference.

southsiderosie

HondaSami wrote: »

Are they nutritious really, always seemed like hospital food to me. I think children are better getting nutritious meals at home.

Yes, but the point is, the kids aren't getting nutritious meals at home. They are barely getting meals of any kind at all.

WayneMolloy

HondaSami wrote: »

what's wrong with this? I'm not in favour of school dinners tbh, it's the same as most things people on welfare get them free and everyone else has to pay for them.
If you have a few children in school paying for dinners can be expensive

Lets say parents spend 50 quid a month on their kids lunches. Deduct child benefit by 45, they get an extra fiver as disposable income - and the state then has a 40 euro budget to provide their kids with a nutritious meal every lunchtime. Saving the state a fiver per nipper, too. Stews, fruits, soups, salads and the like are pretty inexpensive as the ingredients can be bought in bulk. In rural areas the state can put the contract out to tender and local companies can ply for it.

The figures are not precise. Only using them as an example.

Mardy Bum

The same thing happens in Ireland and it has been brought up at numerous national teaching conferences.

Seaneh

In ecuador every kid in primary school is given a cereal bar/biscuit/thing and a box of fortified juice (juice with added vitimins and dairy proteins/fats think like that dawn drink from a few years back?) when the arrive at school, the bar is designed to expand in their tummies and keep them feeling full for longer and it's a slow release energy so it keeps them awake during school and the initial sugar hit of the juice box gets them going for the day. Hungry kids find it hard to concentrate and stay awake, giving them this small meal keeps them going until lunch time. From talking to teachers in ecuador pupil performance and attendance is drastically improved since the system was implemented and far more students are going on to 2nd and 3rd level and as a result the countries economy in improving because of a more skilled workforce.


How hard would it be to implement something similar here in Europe?

Seaneh

HondaSami wrote: »

Are they nutritious really, always seemed like hospital food to me. I think children are better getting nutritious meals at home.

Hospital food is, by design, extremely nutritious, it's just bland tasting as they use very little salt and can be a big mushy as it has to be easily digestible.