– I am 24 years old and I am not allowed to take part in things that others see as a matter of course. I feel that I end up outside society. My everyday life is lonely. Amalie Engen is 24 years old and receives employment verification allowance from Nav. A year ago she moved to Kolbotn, just outside Oslo. A lot of worries – You feel a constant pressure in your chest. Every day there are new worries, like how am I going to make things go up. How am I going to afford dinner today? Including housing benefit expenses, she has around NOK 16,000 a month. This will cover housing, food, electricity, telephone and clothing. In a time where everything has become more expensive, she struggles to make ends meet. Yesterday, Engen appeared in Debatten to talk about his financial situation today. The meadow is not alone in having little. Engen is not alone in having little and that is why she is taking part in the Debate on Tuesday. To put a face on poverty in Norway. Photo: Christian Breidlid / news The food center says that they will distribute 11 million meals this year. They estimate that the need is greater and think they could distribute twice as much food as they do today. Never seen such numbers before The Salvation Army tells of a sharp increase in households that seek out their food distributions. In Tromsø alone, the city Amalie originally comes from, there has been an increase of 86 per cent. Christian Poppe is a researcher at the Consumer Research Institute and says that they have just carried out the survey “Animal time under sailing”. The figures he refers to are drastic: – We have never seen such a result on this index before. We have seen a doubling of households at the two lowest levels. Even during the corona, we didn’t see anything close to this. What we call dear time is a wider crisis and hits harder in many more groups. According to him, it is families with children, the disabled and benefit recipients like Amalie who sit at the bottom of the Norwegian table. Help for Christmas Amalie smiles carefully. Last week she published an advertisement on finn.no. – I asked for help for Christmas. I don’t have money left over to be able to prioritize Christmas things. I will be celebrating Christmas alone in Oslo and wanted to make it a little cosy. But since I didn’t have money for Christmas decorations, a Christmas tree or Christmas presents, I asked for help with that. This week she has NOK 40 to live on. – That’s enough for bread and milk. If there is something I need, I will have to use the Mastercard. I am constantly in the red. PROUD: Renate Søderland and Amalie Engen discuss in the corridors at Marienlyst. Photo: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / news She is in the company of two other ladies. Renate Søderlund and Cathrine Dahl Bjerkøe. Both in their 40s. Both moms. Both on work settlement allowance. All three of them are in the same situation. But meet each other for the first time in the corridors of news at Marienlyst. Want to make a difference – It’s nice to be able to be together about this. It’s a bit scary going to the Debate, but we have to put up with it. We don’t do it for ourselves, we do it for everyone in our situation. Søderlund chuckles a little. TOGETHER: Cathrine Dahl Bjerkøe and Renate Søderland are in the same situation as Amalie Engen. Here they stand together with Elisabeth Thoresen, leader of the AAP campaign. Photo: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / news – In fact, I feel that I have drawn the golden ticket to Willy Wonka. I get to come to the Debate to tell politicians how this situation can be improved. Søderlund and Bjerkøe look at Engen. Together, they go up the stairs to the studio where presenter Fredrik Solvang is ready to welcome the guests. – I feel proud because I stand up and talk about a very difficult topic. I’m proud because it seems like it does other people good to hear it. I am proud because it opens the eyes of more people. After sending, the messages tick into Engen’s mobile phone. Before sending, she feared criticism and hatred in her inbox, but in these messages there is only warmth. 22.10VVilde: VildeI am contacting you because I felt so sick to my stomach hearing about your wishes for Christmas. Have experienced severe poverty myself. Both as a child and as a single mother in adulthood. I know how shameful it feels to live in perpetual poverty. That’s why I want to give you praise for having the courage to appear on national TV and tell about your everyday life. 22.15Erik: ErikHey Amalie. Were you the one who participated in the Debate? My brother and I would like to invite you to our house on Christmas Eve. We will be a small and warm group. Would you like to celebrate Christmas with us? Hug E22:16LLise:LiseHey Amalie 🙂 I saw you at the Debate, and it made a big impression. I will be happy to help you with Christmas decorations! 22.20KKari:KariJust have to say thank you so much for being so COURAGEOUS and GENEROUS to take part in the Debate! 22.30Nils: NilsHello, Amalie. I don’t have any Christmas decorations, unfortunately, but I see that I have two tickets to Kurt Nilssen’s Christmas concert in Oslo Spektrum on 19 December that you can get from me. My roommate and I can’t go ourselves, so we might as well give them away to someone who wants to get into the Christmas spirit. Let me know if you want them! Etc. Send me your story Do you have a story you want to tell or a topic you want us to take up in the Debate? Contact me here. When Fredrik Solvang talks about the number of meals the food center distributes, he chokes on tears and has to take a break.
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Amalie (24) lives on a low income:
