Appearances can be deceiving in the refrigerator of Metha Visser from Veldhoven. It is pleasantly full, with many jars and bottles. But they have been there for years and the content is far past the date. “I actually don’t eat olives and pickles at all,” she confesses. “Look, these cough drops date back to prehistoric times. They are there because I find an empty fridge so confronting when I open the door.”
Metha is chronically ill and was in dire straits when she was faced with a divorce. She has now been living on benefits for fourteen years and has been working at the Food Bank in Veldhoven for ten years.
“I know I will never get out of here,” she says. “I can’t work because of rheumatism, that will not change.” Metha sees a bleak future. “I am anxious. You see the unrest and aggression increasing, that worries me.”
Nevertheless, she tries to put on her ‘mask’ every day and to approach everything positively. “Getting up on time every morning, a scent and a tan, make you look good.” Many people who know Metha also don’t know that she has to make ends meet. “When they find out, they say, gee, Metha, you?”
“People don’t know what it means to live on little money”
A spontaneous life is not possible for Metha, she has to do everything from 50 euros a week. “It’s an oppressive life. You live in constant fear that something will break. Everything has to be calculated and planned. If I have to go to the hospital, I schedule the appointment on Monday. Then I have my living money and I can fill up to go with my car.”
She got that car from her now deceased mother and that is how Metha stays mobile. “People sometimes have nasty comments about it,” she says.
According to Metha, people often don’t realize what it means to live on little money. “I received 190 euros for the energy. I could spend that on my washing machine that broke down. You can borrow the money from the municipality, but then it will be deducted from your benefit.”
“Sometimes I didn’t eat and told the kids that my stomach was bothering me.”
And so the lights stay off and she doesn’t turn on the stove. “Only an hour in the morning and in the evening to expel the moisture from the house, because that is not good for rheumatism.”
The holidays are stressful. Metha has two children, who have now left home, but Sinterklaas and Christmas remain difficult. “You do everything for the children. Once I went into the woods and pulled a tree out of the ground for a Christmas tree.”
“As long as my children are alive, I love life,” says Metha, who indicates that she can get depressed regularly. “Sometimes I didn’t eat along, so that the children had a good meal. Then I said that my stomach was bothering me, but they noticed.”
Metha now eats two meals a day and can have a warm meal twice a week. “One time potatoes with the vegetables. Next time potatoes with the meat. Also sandwiches or cottage cheese with muesli. Sometimes I see something tasty in the store, Bossche bollen or something. Then I think, hmmm. But then I think of the three loaves of bread I can buy.”
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