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More than 900 kilometres away from the doors of Argentina’s Human Capital Ministry, where hundreds of Argentines have formed a ‘fila del hambre’ protest to demand greater social aid, Graciela Achaval is making food for 80 families.
Her soup kitchen, located in Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco Province, started out as a snack bar and lunch club back in 2011. Today, the resources she has can’t meet growing demand. Despite attempts to register the community food spot with the authorities in order to receive aid, she’s been told to wait and try her luck again in 2025.
Hunger, however, does not wait. Poverty in the first half of the year rose 16 points from the same period in 2023. In Greater Resistencia, the area surrounding the capital of Chaco Province, more than 76 percent of the population is poor.
Outside the doors of the Human Capital Ministry is a line that stretches for blocks. The queue is a new way to protest an imposing and deepening reality: in a plan to reduce spending, the government has decided to cut back on assistance to soup kitchens and community food banks areas. Back in February, the response by Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello was that whoever was hungry could knock directly on her door. She would see them “one by one”, she claimed. Eight months later, the line stretches for 20 blocks.
Back at the soup kitchen, the queues are also getting longer. Resources remain finite. With rising unemployment in the region, organisations are receiving fewer donations too.
“In 2011, we started knocking on doors and receiving help from City Hall [in Resistencia]. We started in the neighbourhood, giving out meals at teatime to 30 children,” Graciela explained in an interview.
Six years later, they received their first donation from a non-governmental organisation and promptly opened a canteen. “At that time my husband, who is a carpenter, decided that part of what we sold would be used to buy what we lacked: meat and vegetables. That’s when we started with our first plates. It was a joy to see those kids eating,” she recalls.
Today, in addition to food, the site offers painting classes, guitar lessons and support for those struggling with schoolwork. It counts on the support of NGOs, civil associations, the local government and private donations.
Generations
During her years at the soup kitchen, Graciela has seen several generations come and go. Those who she once saw as children are today the parents of others who come to get their plate of food. The priority, she explains, must be getting them out of the cycle.
“I have a 17-year-old mother who is studying nursing today. Most of my ‘little kids,’ as I call them, are finishing school. Today a mum told me she wants to study to become an agricultural engineer,” she says proudly. “Good, I told her. We have a beautiful state university with 45 courses, where kids can walk to. I always tell them that, even if we’re poor, we have to study to prevent history from repeating itself.”
These types of things, she explained, make her feel that her work is “not in vain.”
In order to sustain the effort they make and the mouths they feed, the Merendero/Comedor Barrio Sáenz Peña Chaco needs non-perishable food donations. Graciela would also like to build a small community hall and set up a local library on the land, which the organisers only managed to purchase in 2023.
“Currently, six out of every 10 children [in Argentina] need a soup kitchen to feed themselves. From last year to now, the number of organisations who want to liaise with us has tripled. Right now we have several on a waiting list,” cautioned Fernando Uranga, the director of Banco de Alimentos Buenos Aires food bank, a registered NGO. “We liaise with nearly 1,200 and we want to reach many more. For that we need more companies to decide to join us.”
Banco de Alimentos Buenos Aires has been working since 2001 as a bridge between companies and institutions who want to help support and deliver food aid. Nationwide there are 1,181 soup kitchens and organisations who increasingly require more assistance, said Uranga.
“We receive food donations and other products at our distribution centre in Benavídez, where our volunteers sort them and then they are stored, to subsequently put orders together. Between 30 and 40 means of transport come and pick up goods every day,” he explained.
Consumption slump
While the demand in soup kitchens grows, sales of basic products at small and medium sized shops are slumping.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo last week celebrated on his X account the news that sales figures had improved at giant online ecommerce site Mercado Libre, sharing a post made by its founder, Marcos Galperín, that revealed the selling of “20 million products and US$916 million” worth of goods in August alone.
Conversely, the Confederación Argentina de la Mediana Empresa (CAME) reported an 18.6-percent cumulative fall in the consumption of basic food products in the first nine months of the year. Pharmacy sales also fell in September. They are down 25.5 percent this year overall and fell by three percent as against the same month in 2023.
“The month brought some price reductions, but even so, the loss of families’ purchasing power was very visible, which caused changes in consumer demand, with more weight on second brands and further quest for offers,” warned the group in a report.
According to the data from Sentimientos Públicos consultancy firm, over the last six months, seven out of every 10 Argentines have reduced the amount of dinners they enjoy or celebrations staged outside the home. “Society is shrinking its leisure, but also sociability, spaces,” said CAME in its report.
In a sign of the severity of the situation, at the time when perhaps it was most needed, three of out every 10 people say they had to suspend financial aid to relatives amid the ongoing crisis.
Back in Chaco, at the soup kitchen, and in Buenos Aires, outside the Human Capital Ministry, queues are getting bigger and bigger, though solidarity stays strong.
Gracila is keen to get on with the task. Next week is Mother’s Day and, with the help of 13 volunteers, she is preparing pastelitos for those who deserve them.
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