“Before the Covid, we gave to associations.
Now we are the ones who need it ”
Karim and Amina Tabchiche are struggling to make ends meet since the confinement and the economic crisis due to Covid-19.
© Thomas Giraudeau
Text by: Thomas Giraudeau Follow
5 mins
Since the first confinement due to the Covid pandemic, a million French people have fallen into poverty.
The self-employed, students and part-time workers are the most affected by the economic crisis.
In Bobigny, in the Parisian suburbs, Karim and Amina Tabchiche illustrate this “new poverty”.
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Tears bead on Amina Tabchiche's masked face when this mother of five speaks of the financial difficulties she and her husband are going through.
“
I can't ask for help, knock on doors.
It's too hard a situation to accept,
”she describes.
“
There, we are barely in the middle of the month.
And the fridge is empty.
"
"
We make sure that the children have enough to eat
," adds Karim, her husband.
“
The situation is, I believe, more difficult for them.
They do not understand.
Before confinement, we lived relatively well.
But since then, with the crisis, we can't get out of it.
"
Six months of rent arrears
This 46-year-old man worked as an accountant for a long time.
Holder of a Bac + 2 in this specialty, he was made redundant in 2010 when his company went bankrupt.
He quickly found a part-time job as an extracurricular activity leader in a primary school in his town, Bobigny, in the Paris suburbs.
300 euros per month, to which is added another part-time position of driver of vehicles for disabled children.
A little over 700 euros per month.
Social assistance allows the couple to get by, even if Amina, disabled for five years, had to give up her job as a beautician.
Everything changes in mid-March 2020. France is confined.
Amina sees her allowance drop from 480 to 250 euros per month.
Karim finds himself on partial unemployment for two months.
“
Between March and September, we couldn't pay our rent.
We owe more than 4,000 euros in arrears,
”says Karim.
“
Our donor is understanding, but we still have to gradually repay this debt.
"
My business is going to go bankrupt
In April, the couple benefits from an exceptional food check of 50 euros.
As well as housing assistance for the most precarious, released by the State.
Insufficient to get by.
Their landlord, the Emmaüs association, puts them in touch with Secours Populaire, which offers them some food.
“
Before confinement, we gave to associations.
Today, we are the ones who need it,
”notes Amina.
“
We have borrowed money, we are overdraft.
We don't see the end of the tunnel,
”sighs her husband.
Listen to the testimony of Karim and Amina Tabchiche, from Bobigny in the Paris region
If Karim has been able to resume his two jobs since September, he sees only clouds on the horizon.
The company which employs him as a driver for handicapped children is in great financial difficulty, “
its activity almost at a standstill.
She's going to go out of business soon.
"
Willing to do anything to work
Amina Tabchiche went to see the mayor of their city, Bobigny.
Begging for his help, giving her her husband's CV, she hopes he will get extra hours at the elementary school where he works, or a more paying job.
And Karim insisted: "
If he offers me or if I find another full-time job, of course, I will take it."
And I am ready to do anything.
There is no shame.
You have to earn your crust.
"
►
To find out more:
Exclusive interview with Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Covid-19: how to avoid economic collapse?
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Economy
France
Poverty
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