“The poor aren’t numbers”

According to a set of economic and social data, national and international surveys, Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU. In this country the crisis had a very strong impact. But Caritas decided to look beyond the numbers and discovered the causes of individual poverty, investigating also the family environment. The report “Poverty in our midst – development of social services” contains recommendations addressed to the government and to municipalities, formulated after the experience of social workers in direct contact with the needy. Often the programs for the poor don’t respond to their true needs. Iva Mihailova for Sir Europe addressed this issue with Emanuil Patashev, secretary general of Caritas Bulgaria. What are the faces of poverty portrayed in the report of Caritas Bulgaria? “They are those of children and youths, many of whom are minorities, of families with many children whose parents are unemployed and depend on family benefits. There are old people who live alone, with low pensions and no access to health services, the homeless (we have a shelter home for them in Russe), as well as drug-addicts, single mothers, migrants, notably refugees. A consultation centre for refugees opened in Sofia. In the past two years the heavy floods in the Balkans brought also people hit by natural disasters. However, we devote special attention to old people, to the homeless and to children”. The report on poverty doesn’t focus on statistics. Why do you highlight the family? “We wanted to go beyond mere figures: the poor aren’t numbers but real people, we wanted to identify the root causes of their poverty. We availed ourselves of the experience of our workers that are in direct contact with people. In harmony with the entire Church that addresses the challenges of the family, Caritas Bulgaria wanted to see poverty from this perspective. The Family supports its members. As it happens, the poor are often without a family or their dramatic situation impacts their families, making them poorer”. Which conclusions have you drawn? “Our survey showed that those born in a poor environment stay poor and it’s very hard for them to change this situation. For example, in the case of the homeless our support is funded by the government that compels us to provide only a warm drink, a snack and a bed in the shelter for the homeless for a three-month period, after which we have to send them back in the streets. Instead, we teach them wood-carving and farming them to help them find a job. In practical terms, the needy have no access to the job market”. What are the recommendations to authorities? “At the level of strategies and regulations there exists a set of measures to help indigent people. But the implementation of these intentions requires determination and funds. Last year in Bulgaria there were three governments, and this blocked everything. The current executive is a coalition government and every party has its own priorities. The bottom line is that there are no means and social policies are not considered a priority”. But the poor find it hard to access these services… “In order to access social services the poor need to be informed and after this they should be put in the condition of filing a request by compiling a dedicated form. For this reason Caritas Bulgaria has started also accompanying the poor in the relevant institutions. Fighting poverty with benefits and other services may solve daily needs, but it doesn’t help the poor integrate into society”. Caritas Bulgaria is the merciful hand of the Catholic Church. In Pope Francis’ pontificate the poor have a special place. Does this influence your job? “The Pope’s attention towards the poor also inspires the partners whom we work with, namely, social workers, other non-governmental organizations, government and local authorities. There is great esteem for us because for them it’s clear that the Pope wants a Church that is sensitive towards the poor. They see that Francis shows this with concrete signs, not only with words”.