More than 70 days ago, face-to-face classes in Argentine schools were suspended by covid-19. For many children, the closure not only impacts their education and socialization, but also access to healthy food. School meals are essential for many families in vulnerable situations.
MORE INFORMATION
- Coronavirus in America: latest live news
- Four Argentine provinces backtrack with the opening of the quarantine
- Barter is back, lifeguards of victims of the Argentine crisis
The rule that suspended classes established the continuity of the provision of food for those who depend on the school for food. In the city of Buenos Aires, where quarantine is being followed more strictly, the Government is offering 420,000 school baskets in more than 1,340 educational centers, which open their doors to deliver food. In any case, the logistical coordination of deliveries has encountered many obstacles.
On March 20, the day that compulsory social isolation began, Gisela Quintana, a 35-year-old neighbor from Villa 31, had to go to her nine-and-three-year-old daughters' school to remove the food to transport them to her home. House. To get there, he had to take a bus and walk several blocks. In itself, it was difficult to leave the neighborhood because the security forces did not allow it without a pass. In addition, he had to expose his health on public transport.
“I went twice to the Indira Gandhi school to remove the food. As with many families, it was difficult to get there, with a small group of mothers we waited until the afternoon and brought what was left over to the neighborhood to distribute them with other boys who attend the center. If not, it was thrown, ”says Quintana.
The president of the Indira Gandhi school cooperator, Paola Rocha Matto, is also a neighbor of Villa 31 and she insisted a lot so that the deliveries could be made in the neighborhood. She admits that it was difficult for the boys to go look for them. There, 184 students from Villa 31 attend.
“The first Monday that quarantine was decreed, I went to school and the principal showed me the stew pot that had to be thrown away because many families were unable to get there. Later they were delivered sandwiches and if they did not come to pick them up before 2 pm, they had to be thrown away. Sometimes we were able to coordinate with a group that deviated from the route and brought the meats to the neighborhood. I waited for the driver to receive them and notified the families on WhatsApp to make the delivery. It was done in an improvised and informal way, ”says Rocha Matto.
The first meals offered were a sandwich, fruit, and cereal bar. As of April 1, the Government changed the methodology and began offering food bags for 15 days. The baskets now contain products for breakfast, lunch and snacks. They are delivered so that families can cook them at home. Deputies Myriam Bregman and Alejandrina Barry, of the Left Front, families and teachers denounced that the pockets were not enough and were not healthy.
"Now we are fighting precisely so that the content improves in quantity (which we consider to be insufficient), variety (so that there is more balance between the six food groups) and quality (since it does not comply with the nutritional values of the healthy eating law ) ”, Says Eric Soñis, lawyer at the Center for Professionals for Human Rights (CEPRODH).
Practically the same is offered for breakfast and snacks: two liters of milk, five tea bags and five of mate tea, five fruits, five individual cookie packages and five cereal bars. For 15 lunches, a package of rice, one of noodles, one of sugar and one of grated cheese are provided. Also, a box of tomato puree, a bottle of oil, a bag of lentils, a can of peas and canned fish. Vegetables: carrot, squash and onion. For dessert, a box of flan or jelly and five units of fruit.
As the difficulty of the families in reaching the schools, which were far from the neighborhoods, was evident, the pockets had to be brought closer to them. But still, the disorganization remained. “I am pregnant, one week after having a family, and they gave me different retirement points for each of my daughters. I went through the town from end to end to look for the bags, "says Gisela Quintana. Villa 31 is one of the main informal settlements of the City. More than 40,000 people live there.
In addition to the school baskets, Quintana attends a neighborhood dining room. He ensures that the products delivered to him are not enough. She is a single mom and is not working at the moment. In five out of 10 households in towns and settlements, food was no longer purchased due to lack of money, according to information reported by UNICEF. In 17% of the homes, a member of the family went to a community canteen to pick up food or food. The last time Quintana went to remove the bags there were many people. He says: “I had to do two lines. People did not fulfill social distancing. They were all piled up. Some with the chinstrap and others not ”.
Most cases of covid-19 are occurring in the impoverished neighborhoods of Buenos Aires
At this time, one out of every three confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires is registered in towns and settlements. The Buenos Aires Government confirmed more than a thousand cases of covid-19 in the vulnerable neighborhoods of the City. Those most affected are: Barrio 31 with and Barrio Padre Ricciardelli (1-11-14).
Romina Pérez (fictitious name at the request of the interviewee) also had problems removing the school meals of her eleven and five year old children. The 35-year-old woman had withdrawn the children's food at the María Elena Walsh School, near her home in Villa 31. Recently, she came to collect new bags and the school staff told her that they had changed the withdrawal point. They told him that he should consult another center that is outside the neighborhood.
It is impossible for her to leave the district to go and remove the food. She explains that this is fenced off due to the emergency measures ordered by the quarantine and that she also does not have anyone who could stay in the care of her children while she leaves her house. To all this, he adds that he has been a victim of gender violence and that he has a current restriction measure and an anti-panic button. Regarding his income, he says that in normal times he works in a cooperative and that he receives an approximate monthly sum of 6,000 Argentine pesos, about 82 euros. But in this context, he only received the Universal Child Allowance, the transfer of the state for minors under 18 in a vulnerable economic situation. The amount of the allocation is 3,100 pesos (42.5 euros)
Mariana García (not her real name) lives in Villa 31 bis and is eight years old. Her mother applied for a third grade primary school vacancy and the pandemic found her on the waiting list. Since Mariana did not obtain her vacancy, she could not be considered to apply for a food scholarship. In cases like Mariana's, the boys not only do not have access to food, but they also don't have distance classes.
While in many vulnerable neighborhoods, after many obstacles and logistical obstacles, access to food bags was achieved, in Saldías, a settlement bordering Villa 31, no delivery yet arrived, despite being part of Comuna 2, one of the districts with the most resources in the City of Buenos Aires. During the school year, girls and boys from this settlement travel more than two kilometers on foot to attend school, but in this context it is impossible for them to go there.
The Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) has been accompanying the demand of the Saldías neighborhood so that their rights are fulfilled and the meals reach families and minors without exposing them to health risks. It was ordered to establish mechanisms to facilitate access to those who live far from schools and for some families the solution is to remove the food bags from other educational centers or public institutions near their homes, but in Saldías there are none.
Faced with judicial notice to resolve this situation, the Government of Buenos Aires proposed a delivery point one kilometer away, whose access involves crossing undeveloped avenues and crossing a road only traveled by trucks to Villa 31. “With the In Villa 31, families are not willing to move there, "says Francisco Rodríguez Abinal, member of the ACIJ area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
According to Carmen Ryan, lawyer and coordinator of the ACIJ Economic, Social and Cultural Rights area, it is important that the deliveries are at points accessible to families. He says: “Sometimes near the houses is a community center or a school. But when these possibilities are not there, the State has to come up with a van and create a new distribution post. ” In this sense, Rodríguez Abinal adds: “We must recognize that delivery methods are deficient. Improving logistics implies providing more possibilities for families, being more flexible and giving more hours to avoid the concentration of people ”.
You can follow PLANET FUTURE on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe here to our newsletter.