 |
| A water well by the cemetery Photo: Ileana Johnson 2012 |
Yet many “poor” in this country know how to milk the system,
own a home, TVs, cell phones, cars, electronics, air conditioning, have cable,
refrigerators, microwaves, food, and
other amenities that make life comfortable and worth living.
Most importantly, quite a few of the “poor,” are members of the
generational welfare class. When compared to most countries, they are well off,
do not work by choice, are not ashamed that they are kept by taxes from those
who do work, and seldom assume personal responsibility for their poor choices
in life.
The following story is a poignant case of real poverty. A
sad video crossed my desk recently from the old country. Two Romanian local policemen were accusing a
tiny 84-year old lady of fiscal evasion because she was selling herbs and
vegetables from her own garden to survive while corrupt politicians steal
millions of other people’s money, with scant consequences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5HGtyaR74
Mamaia Niculina touched my heart and the heart of an entire
nation with her humble resilience. She
survives proudly from day to day on a small pension and from the toil of her
own hands. Gardening is back-breaking hard work for anybody but especially for
an octogenarian. She travels 30 km twice a week to the capital Bucharest with
two large bags, to sell parsley, squash, peppers, garlic, and other vegetables
for one leu per bunch of parsley or
one squash, about 25 cents.
Sitting on the sidewalk in a shabby chair, hunched over her
precious bundles of parsley, a few peppers, garlic, and squash she grew
herself, she smiles with pride when a buyer comes by and admires her harvest,
crumpling one banknote in her wrinkled hands with fingernails caked with dirt.
Every little bundle she sells buys her a loaf of bread, helping her survive
from day to day, literally her daily bread. “You are just eating plain bread?
Yes, plain bread. What can I do,” she answers with a clear voice.
The reporter shows Mamaia Niculina’s dilapidated home. She
does not own much, her possessions and wealth can fit into a large shopping
bag. But she is proud that she can
support herself through her hard work. She refuses handouts or anything she has
not earned. Her home has seen better days; a few windows are broken and the
roof leaks so much, it actually rains inside.
If she eats one serving of meat per week, she considers
herself lucky, a real holiday in her modest house. She proudly shows the
reporter her garden, a little plot of land with greens, beans, peppers, and
squash.
By any standards, she is impoverished, like most elderly who
have no family to help them or a social safety net to fall back on. She is
truly a poor person who has fallen through the cracks of society. And she is
not alone. Many older Romanians are forced to survive on very small pensions
from the communist era, pensions that have not kept up with inflation.
Reforms are badly needed but, when corrupt politicians steal
or misappropriate the allocated money for economic development and social
programs, the elderly suffer the most.
She told the reporter from Antena1 that she prays that she’ll never be a burden on society and
just drop dead when her time comes. The law, through the local policemen, is
punishing her for trying to sell the fruit of her hard labor which helps her
survive. She is considered a thief.
Criminalizing Mamaia Niculina’s survival is a stark reminder
that the mighty State will come after people like her because she did not
register with them, she was not regulated by them, was not licensed by them, and she did not pay
the agricultural lobbyists, the pipers of State.
Trying to survive, poor Mamaia Niculina became a “thief” of
poverty on the radar of the local fiscal police who chased her away. She now spends
most of her pension defending herself in court and fighting a land dispute –
and the wheels of justice turn very slowly. Since her well ran out of water, Mamaia
Niculina will no longer be able to plant a garden near her home. Physically and
emotionally, she is an amazing octogenarian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6cOrcXvkU
No comments:
Post a Comment