Tzion’s story
Tzion, like his classmates in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, receives a daily school meal from Meir Panim. Unlike his classmates, though, Tzion does not eat more than a few bites of his meal, before packing it back up to take home. This is because his family has nothing to eat and Tzion wants to share his meal with his parents and sister. Tzion's father, Shlomo, worked as a truck driver until a few years ago, when he suffered a stroke that left the left side of his body paralysed. Shlomo says, "the doctors say that I'll never be able to work again. I keep my head down, I'm ashamed to ask for help. It's very uncomfortable; I'm not used to things like this. I'm used to working, and getting a pay cheque…When Tzion says he needs something, I don’t have anything to give him. Tzion knows that we don't have anything. That's why he can't concentrate in class…"

Whilst already suffering the highest poverty levels in the western world, Israel is getting poorer and hungrier. Deep cuts in the social safety net in 2000-2005 led to a dramatic growth in Israel’s poor with voluntary groups forced to fill the gap left by the government. However, the global economic downturn has seen the situation become even more critical.

According to the latest Poverty Report by the Israel National Insurance Institute, 1,733,400 Israelis (1 in 4 of the population) now live below the poverty line – among them 837,300 children.

One result of this poverty is ‘food insecurity’, or hunger in simple terms. Poverty sees families forced to choose between food and things like rent, schoolbooks, heating or medicine. About half opt for less food.

For more information, please contact:
Gabriel Blauer, Executive Director of UK Branch of Meir Panim.
UK Branch of Meir Panim, 58 Longfield Ave. NW7 2EG, London.
Tel: 020 82027508 or 07985 511 475, gaby.blauer@meirpanimuk.org