A terrible time, what remains is the vulnerability and the hopelessness

Laufey Ólafsdóttir, coordinator of Pepp á Íslandi, an organization of people in poverty, read out short stories of people who have lived in poverty since Hungurgangan. You can read them here:

„It has often happened that I have no money and no food. Once at the end of the month, the only thing available in the household was a small can of canned fruit. I opened it and poured the juice into half a baby bottle, filled it up with water, and gave it to the child.“

„I have all sorts of systems to make a small amount of money last through the month, but none of these systems can account for unexpected expenses, e.g., if someone gets injured, falls ill, gets a toothache, needs new glasses, shoes, winter clothing.... the list is endless. Such things throw everything off balance, causing the money that was budgeted for food for the month to evaporate in one go.“

„We are told that the purchasing power of the lowest wages has increased, that we have never had it better. We who live on low incomes do not recognize this at all. We feel every króna added to our monthly expenses, and we feel each month lengthen as the hunger march lengthens. The last week of each month is like an extra month. That week when we have to scrape by on food donations, loans, the kindness of others, or just on air.“

„In 1960, I was a single mother with 3 children. In the last days of the month, when the money was running out, skyr was the only thing I could buy for them. It was by far the cheapest food available. The children, of course, got tired of always having skyr for dinner. So, at the beginning of the month, I invested in a few bottles of food coloring, and when the time of hardship began, I added different colors to the skyr. After that, the children were always very excited to eat. What color skyr would be for dinner tonight. Red... green... blue....“

„The vulnerability that arises from an empty bank account is absolute. When all accounts are at zero, you know that nothing can go wrong. No one can lack anything, nothing can run out. You are powerless against the smallest incidents. The worst part is that you did nothing wrong to put yourself in this situation.“

„It is expensive to be poor. If you cannot afford to pay a bill, you pay it later with accrued interest. The longer you have to delay payment, the higher the bill becomes, and the harder it is to pay it. This means that people who live in poverty for a long time can never claw their way out of it. Every time something „extra“ comes into the account, it goes towards paying down mutated interest on overdue bills. Collection agencies are run by the money of poor people, and the state and municipalities provide them with business. This is a messed-up system and obviously perverse. This is like telling someone to hang themselves and charging them for the rope.“

„I have found myself with 10-20 thousand krónur left after all bills were paid at the beginning of the month. This was a terrible time, but what remains is the vulnerability and the hopelessness. You can't seek help anywhere. All the institutions that are supposed to help you shrug their shoulders. Some offer something you cannot use, others so little that it barely gets you through the day. You are completely alone and no one cares.“

„There are 10 days left of the month, and you're clinging to your last thousand-króna bill. Your daughter asks if she can go to the school dance. It „only” costs a thousand krónur. You hand it to her and think that it must work out. In reality, you were just grateful to have that thousand-króna bill to give her. It could easily have been gone. Glad it wasn't a trip costing 3000 krónur. Why are these events always at the end of the month?“

„Everything costs money. It costs money to leave the house. You can't go anywhere. It costs money to take the bus, so you have to cancel going out of the neighborhood. It's supposedly free to go for a walk, but if you do all your errands on foot because you don't own a car, then a walk is no pleasure, but a chore. Walking for pleasure is a privilege.“

The photo: Laufey Ólafsdóttir from Pepp Íslandi, an organization of people in poverty, reads the stories at Hungurgangan. –Photo: Spessi