Belgium/La précarité existe aussi dans les zones rurales du Brabant wallon : "On vient en aide à 90 ménages" (We're helping 90 households)
The project was born on November 30, 2022. The Pôle solidarité of the Ramillies pastoral unit launched its "Parlotte café" and its "épicerie solidaire": a free distribution of basic necessities (fresh, dry and canned food, hygiene and cleaning products... and sometimes a piece of furniture, a picture, a lamp to decorate).
It helped eight households the first few times, and 87 households this Saturday, November 25. The need is great. Among the beneficiaries are people who pay into the CPAS, but also all those who do not have the CPAS's blank check to be able to go to the parcel distributions of "classic" associations and social grocery stores: employees, the self-employed, the disabled, pensioners, very young adults and older people.
This grocery store is open almost without conditions. A single mother explained that "at least here, we're considered as human beings. If we miss a Saturday distribution because we're ill or don't have the petrol to get here, we're not called to account. No questions asked. And we can come back the next time. That's not the case where I used to go. I'm not judged here", adds this mother who lives on 1240 euros a month "in a house full of damp and mould because I can't afford a higher rent".
The association operates entirely on donations. It raised 30,000 euros last year.
Source: www.rtbf.be/
