Easter on 454 euros

Stamatis Kalantzis is a 42-year-old man who no longer wakes up early to go to work. Once a month he visits the unemployment office to receive his benefit which amounts to 454 euros, a sum that will allow him some degree of dignity. After six years of working at a phone company he was let go in January. Since then he has not been able to find a job. “It was a shock for me since I have never been jobless before" he says, whispering the word "jobless" as if it were a serious illness.

Today the queue at the unemployment office is long, although the benefit has been given out since the 11^th of April. They are calling out number 184 when Stratos comes out of the office with 454 euros in his pockets for the month and for the Easter holidays. “For three months now I have not managed to make five daily wages. I have quit smoking, quit coffees and I go on the bus without a ticket, not because I am a fan of the 'I am not paying' movement but simply because I have no money”, he says when asked about his everyday life. Easter for him will be grim.

Katerina had been working as a cashier in a super market until two months ago. Her life changed when she was fired. She is 28 years old and waiting in line for the benefit. Disheartened by everything he hears, she is very pessimistic about the future.

“It will be difficult to find a job. I am going to malls asking whether they have a job for me but upon entering I see a girl fired exiting. There is no hope” she says humorously. She considers herself lucky since she lives with her parents, so the 454 euros of her benefit will be exclusively for her own needs, without having to contribute to her parents’ household expenses.

On the other hand, when we approach him, Andreas Roupas begins to list the bills he has to pay tomorrow morning with the 500 euros he received (he is a father of one child and takes home a 10% increase in his benefit).

“With this money I will have to pay the electricity and the child’s English lessons” he says and adds angrily “I don’t care about the phone, let them cut it off, it only rings when debt collectors call”. He was a driver in a mine that closed down and has been unemployed since last summer. He has only been able to do a few night shifts in taxis. As for this Easter, he says “Well, in the old days we used to say Easter of the Greeks and we were proud…now we will say Easter of the Unemployed. There is no money, not for lamb, not even for the lambada (candle for Easter) for our child”