WE GO HUNGRY TO FEED OUR CHILDREN
Hard-up mothers tell how they have skipped meals and eaten leftovers during the school holidays so their kids can be fed
MOTHERS have described how they go hungry to feed their children through the six-week school summer
holiday.
And they say they are “relieved” school starts again next week with free breakfast and lunches.
Some are on benefits, others in minimum wage jobs, not even eligible for free school meals, but struggling with food costs.
“I’ll be glad when term starts because the children will be fed twice a day,” one said.
The 33-year-old from Cardiff, who did not want to be named, has five children aged seven to 13 and lives on benefits since her husband left last year, but said that had not been her choice.
She had to leave her care home job because the shifts and cost of childcare were impossible for a single parent.
“I live off the children’s scraps, but they’ve noticed me doing that now so they started leaving some of their food on purpose,” she said.
“This is our life. There is hunger in Cardiff.
“Food has gone up in price and I think a majority of people where I live in Tremorfa are in the same boat as me.”
A nursery nurse described how she skips tea, eating a bowl of cereal instead so her four children aged four to 18 can eat properly.
The 39-year-old single mum, whose husband also left recently, said her £600-a-month wage is not enough to live on and she would be better off on benefits, but wants to stay in work.
In term time her two youngest get free breakfast at school, although her wage puts them just outside eligibility for free school meals.
“It is hard in the holidays because the children eat more,” she said. “They graze all day because they are here and they are being more active so they get more hungry. I have been cutting down on my own food to be honest and I’ve not paid my water bill this month.
“I buy value food and I’ve not been eating tea. I have breakfast and lunch but not tea, just a bowl of cereal before bed.
“I think a lot of people are in this situation and are embarrassed to say anything about it. I live across from a woman whose children ask for food.
“Some people are just ashamed and don’t know where to go for help.
“I love my job but I would be better off if I didn’t work. I get no help with school lunch costs or school uniform.
“You’re penalised for working, but I want to work and set an example to my children.”
The women, who do not want to be named, say a free holiday lunch scheme in Cardiff has been a lifeline through the summer break.
Unemployment, low wages and zerohours contracts, coupled with rising food prices, have left some parents and children in Wales hungry through the summer break, say the organisers of the pilot scheme run by Flourish, part of Cardiff Community Housing Association, for six weeks this summer.
The scheme, which fed 500 people a week, delivering 3,000 lunches over the holiday, was the idea of teenager Lewis Craven, who lives with his parents in one of CCHA’s properties.
Lewis, who has autism and turned 17 on August 30, said he’d heard about “holiday hunger” and wanted to help.