Economic rebound bypasses Spain’s poorest neighbourhood
SEVILLE, SPAIN: Elvira Montadas pushes her neighbour in a wheelchair along a badly paved sidewalk, past crumbling buildings, in return for some pocket change.
This is one of the odd jobs allowing her to survive in Spain’s poorest neighbourhood – Los Pajaritos in Seville, the country’s fourth largest city famous for its Alcazar palace.
A divorced mother of two teenage daughters, 49-year- old Montadas has not held a steady job for years. So she helps her disabled neighbour, cleans homes or irons clothes whenever she can to earn some cash.
If she runs low on food, she turns to charities like the Red Cross.
“My life right now is screwed,” Montadas told AFP as she pushed the wheelchair through Los Pajaritos, her long hair tied in a ponytail.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday applauded data that showed Spain’s economic activity is on the verge of recovering precrisis levels and the jobless rate has dropped to 17.2 per cent, its lowest level in eight years.
But in Los Pajaritos, a neighbourhood of around 21,000 residents located just a few kilometres (miles) from Seville landmarks such as the Giralda tower, the good economic data contrasts sharply with the reality of daily life.
The average annual income per household in Los Pajaritos is 12,307 euros ( US$14,349). By comparison in Spain’s richest neighbourhood, El Viso in Madrid, it is 113,001 euros.
The unemployment rate in the area is 56 per cent.
“My daughters are well fed, we have never gone hungry, but that is because I am knocking on doors and thank God the doors open, but I am tired of calling on people all day,” Montadas said at her sparsely decorated apartment.
Many of the homes in the neighbourhood are il legal ly hooked up to the electricity network.
Montadas receives a monthly state unemployment benefit of 312 euros.
She spends 110 euros on the mortgage on her apartment, 40 euros for the building’s common expenses, another 40 euros for insurance and ten euros for her mobile phone.
The rest goes towards food, leaving four euros a day for the family’s remaining expenses.
“I don’t have enough to even start to live, but I make a living,” she said.
Montadas said she uses a lot of peas and chickpeas. Sometimes there is meat which she gets from charities or neighbours.
Fish is ‘a luxury’ as are yoghurts which her daughters, Andrea, 18, and Maria Luisa, 14, frequently ask for, she added. Last Christmas there were no gifts.
“They don’t understand, how shoes or a dress are a huge expense,” said Montadas, her eyes tearing up.
“I feel bad, I get down, but what can I do, if I break down, the house will come down because I am the pillar.”