Child Poverty in Spain Seen Through the Eyes of Encarni

ASK ALMOST AUNT SOUP OPERATE UNTIL 2008 LAY FIND PICK THING EXPLAIN WORK MONTH

   “I would like to ___ a big house and ___ wish my family didn’t ___ to go out and ___ for food or clothes.” ___, who just turned 12, ___ one of the faces ___ child poverty in Spain. ___ every day, she goes ___ her mother and her ___ to get food at ___ Er Banco Güeno, a ___ kitchen which has been ___ for the last two ___. “I worked in construction ___ the start of the ___ crisis, when I was ___ off,” Encarni’s stepfather says. ___ then he has not ___ work and has done ___ little of everything, from ___ up junk to selling ___ in street markets. Encarni ___ that her mother found ___ for a couple of ___ taking care of an elderly person, but was fired.

   “I really like to go to school. I especially love gymnastics,” Encarni says, although she adds that she gets sad when she feels they leave her out sometimes, “because they saw me go into the soup kitchen for food. But I just ignore them,” she adds.

   A few days ago her aunt and three cousins moved to another house nearby. But until then there were 11 people living in Encarni’s house. She slept in the top bunk with her cousin while the other members of her family slept in the rest of the rooms of the house, which only has one small bathroom near the kitchen.

   Encarni wants to be a judge when she grows up. But she says that for now she would be happy just to be able to “dress well” and be able to buy more things in the supermarket.

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Have fun....and take care! 275 SEP-A-2015