Faro needs help

The escalation of social problems in the Algarve capital has grown at an “exponential” rate. “Just to give you an idea: in April this year, we were lending support to around 170 people. Right now” (i.e. just seven months later) “we are helping more than 500 people in the three groups that we cater for: the homeless, the elderly and families-in-need”, Cebola explains.

“We’re on the front line. As Faro’s so-called public support institutions can do nothing – and have no means to offer the people and families asking for help – they are sending them all to us. We’re opening an average of 30 new case-files every week”, he adds.

“If we go on at this rate, I think that within three to four months, we’ll have got to 1000 people” appealing for help. “We honestly don’t know if we’ll have the capacity to help that number. Think about it – we’re talking here about 1 per cent of the population of the borough of Faro”.

Apart from clothes and medication, the most vital service this institution provides is food. Whoever is able to collect what they need from CASA’s warehouse in the centre of the city, can do so – whether it’s basic foodstuffs, or ready-cooked meals.

People unable to make the journey (through lack of mobility - for example the elderly or bedridden), are visited three times a week by CASA’s street unit, so that they do not go without.

Ready-cooked dishes are offered by restaurants or regional distribution networks. They’re collected early morning by “teams of volunteers that work 365 days a year. There is never any time off”.

Working with the teams “are the people receiving help, as well. People who are unemployed – even retired people who want to keep active and busy”.

Maintaining this workforce, funding all the collections and deliveries to people needing help, involves costs of more than €2.500 per month. These costs also include running expenses (like water and electricity) at the four CASA warehouses, and fuel costs for the vehicles involved. All these costs are paid for by the volunteers who embrace CASA’s cause.

Homelessness on the increase

Not long ago, you could count on your fingers the number of homeless people living in Faro. In most of the cases, drugs and alcohol dependency were contributory factors. But today, all that has changed. There are now more than 100 people living rough in the Algarve capital. They are part of a “new reality”, involving immigrants from Eastern Europe.

“In this area, many of them used to work in horticultural nurseries, or the building sector. Some had already brought their families over here to join them. What’s happened is that most of them have been more or less unemployed for a year and a half, or more – and they don’t have the means with which to return to their home country”, Pedro Cebola tells.

“Many are now illegal, as they’ve lost their work contracts. They thus have no access to any support from the local municipality – and no possibility of social benefits because they are not in the system.

“At this point in time, we have about 15 per cent of people we look after in this kind of situation”.

Cebola adds that “when we talk about homelessness, and people living rough in Faro, it’s not quite the same as what you see in Lisbon and Oporto – where the homeless really sleep on the pavements, in cardboard boxes. We do have some cases like this in Faro, but only a few. On the whole, the homeless in Faro are people who inhabit houses that have been left empty, or walled up, for a long time. Houses that are falling down, without water, electricity. Without anything”.

Thus, the reality has passed to a certain extent unnoticed by society. “If you went for a walk at night for instance, you wouldn’t notice anything”, Cebola shrugs. “But, a homeless person, according to approved International terminology, is anyone living without basic conditions of hygiene – and living in a shut-up old house is like living in the street. It may have walls, but that’s all it has”.

Shame in difficulty

Among Portuguese, the dilemma is very much hidden. “There’s a lot of shame”, laments Pedro Cebola. “Particularly in the parish of Sé. We know, for example, of various families who don’t come here, or come hiding themselves, because they’re known in the city and are ashamed to be seen to be going through difficulties. Some have lost their jobs, others their savings – because of the state of the economy”.

There are all sorts, in fact. Professionals, for example, like teachers who haven’t received a placement; former restaurant and café owners, people who used to work in real estate.

But Cebola has no truck with social stigma. “We all go through difficulties at some time or other. My greatest happiness is to see people coming here when they’ve found a job. They embrace us, thank us – and tell us they don’t need help anymore. That’s the whole objective of this mission. We don’t try to make people comfortable with their predicament; we try to help them find a way to tackle life head-on – overcome their problems, and continue. That’s what is essential”, he concludes.

One last question. Does he see a light at the end of the tunnel of this developing social drama? “I am not a politician. But I think things will only improve when the economy develops to the kind of level it was a few years back”.

Solutions

To meet rising costs, the «Casa Mágica Solidária» campaign has been launched, and will run until 31st December. It involves the sale of little gifts (like key-rings) and the collection of donations, like toys and foodstuffs. The campaign is playing out in the region’s large shopping centres, Faro Airport, public and private schools, public service buildings, and downtown shops in Faro.

Some of the money raised will go towards a “Christmas Lunch” for 600 needy people, to be given on 18th December at the “Escola Secundária Pinheiro e Rosa”, in Faro.

Meantime, every last weekend of the month, CASA mounts food collection events. “People are very supportive – particularly those who are going through difficulties themselves. They’re the people that give most”.

In Pedro Cebola’s opinion, the current situation in Portugal serves to underline that we need organised, efficient social support structures – like those that exist in other European countries “and have for years, regardless of whether those countries are suffering crises, or otherwise”.

“I often say that one needs to knock one’s head against wood in order to learn! But the problem in Portugal is that when we knock on wood, we learn nothing – and simply go on making the same mistakes”.