Living in Poverty
September 2, 2007
Gerhard Müllner is the head of "Pänz im Veedel" (Cologne dialect for "children in the neighborhood"), an association made up of social workers and teachers working with some of Cologne's most deprived children.
Müllner is also in charge of the Escher Street Day-Care Center in Cologne, where he comes face to face with children directly suffering the effects of poverty.
"We've found that many children don't have lunch," Müllner said. "Instead, they are given about a euro and then they run to the nearest kiosk to buy sweets or chips. It's not such much that they are eating the wrong food, but rather that aren't getting enough to eat."
Children under 15 years in a family living from social welfare payments receive only an estimated 2.57 euros ($3.50) per day for food.
A recent study by the Research Institute for Child Nutrition in Bonn concluded that "even those who buy only at discount stores need to spend 4.68 euros daily in order to satisfy the appetite of a teenager with reasonable food."
One of Pänz im Veedel's many activities is to subsidize lunch fees for needy kids.
The eight-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter of Aische Bastürk [name changed], a Kurd, are just two of those who benefit from the association's lunch program.
Migrants hard hit by poverty
It's estimated that some 30 percent of Germany's immigrants fall under the poverty line.
Bastürk has been unemployed since she lost her job as a cashier shortly before Christmas. Her family receives 600 euros in welfare payments, while her husband brings in 500 euros working as a waiter in a Turkish fast food restaurant.
According to Bastürk, it just isn't enough.
"I can't do anything with my children; I can't even take them to the movies," she said. "My son would love to go to the cinema, but we just can't afford it. I can't even afford a McDonald's meal for my children. We have a lot of debt, and all of that has to be paid off."
Schooling expensive, too
It's not just food that's a problem though -- finding the money for school materials is also a burden.
"My daughter's book fees were 40 euros, and then she needed things like exercise books, drawing equipment, art lessons and so on," Bastürk said. "Eighty euros disappeared just like that. Then there were also my son's book fees -- they were 100 euros."
Child poverty rates in Germany have drifted upwards since the beginning of 1990s. Christian Butterwegge, a political science professor at Cologne University, has conducted several studies into the effects of child poverty. He says that 17 percent of Germany's 11.4 million children in Germany live in households dependent on social welfare.
In some regions of the country, this statistic is even higher; in Görlitz, a town near Germany's border with Poland, 44 percent of children fall into this category.
The benefits aren't high by anyone's standards. Families receive monthly payments of 347 euros per adult and 208 euros per child under 16.
No birthday present
This year, Aische Bastürk didn't even have enough money for a birthday party for her daughter.
"I asked myself, 'How can you explain your actions to your daughter,'" Bastürk said. "In the end, I took her aside, and talked to her like she was a grown woman. She reacted so well. I said, 'Darling, I can make you a cake, but I can't do more.' She hugged me and said, 'Mom, I'm just happy to have you, so that can be the celebration.'"