As the virus crisis continues, French youths are struggling

PARIS (AP) – Leïla Ideddaim was waiting for a bag of food on a recent evening, along with hundreds of other young French people who could not make it. She saw the chitchat that came out with the handout as a welcome by-product, given her intense isolation during the pandemic.

The 21-year-old student in hotel and restaurant management has seen her plans turned upside down by the virus crisis. With the closure of restaurants and tourist sites and France under an evening clock at 6pm, her career prospects are uncertain. Strange jobs that had to keep her going during her studies are hard to come by.

“I’m in a mess,” said Ideddaim, who moved to Paris last year and is now struggling to provide for her basic and emotional needs.

She is not alone. The long queues of young people waiting for food aid that stretches through the neighborhoods of Paris several times a week is a dramatic symbol of the toll the coronavirus has taken on for the youth of France.

The pandemic has devastated economies around the world and plunged vulnerable people deeper into poverty or throw a little into it for the first time. In France, the economic consequences were particularly severe for young people – and their misery was only exacerbated by interruptions in their studies and social interactions.

Nearly a quarter of French young people are unable to find work – two and a half times the national unemployment rate and one of the highest in the 27 countries of the European Union. Many university students now rely on food aid and several organizations have come together to meet the need.

The pandemic has led to an increase in mental health complaints which, according to authorities, are worst among people without work, in financial difficulties and young adults. A telephone line dedicated to students saw an increase in calls, and young people flocked to psychiatric wards.

As French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledges: ‘it’s hard to be 20’ in coronavirus times.

Other European countries have also taken a particularly heavy toll on young people. In Belgium, some areas provide student assistance to help them pay for food, rent, transportation, and psychological assistance. In Germany, a study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found that one in three children suffers from pandemic-related anxiety, depression or psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches.

For Ideddaim, who has to support herself, the pandemic means a spreadsheet that does not always pick up. Each month, she needs more than 800 euros ($ 970) for bills for housing, transportation and utilities. She could not get a well-paid apprenticeship because restaurants are closed and hotels are in a precarious situation.

Instead, an internship at a campsite 45 kilometers east of Paris brings in 300 euros a month – and eases her isolation. She also earns money from occasional temporary jobs in malls. Yet she spent almost all of her savings.

‘I set up a Google page and post my expenses and my fixed costs every month. So I look at how much is coming in, and I calculate what I have left over and where I can fasten my belt – for example on food, ‘she said.

Ideddaim is just one of many needy students served by Linkee, an organization that has long been collecting and distributing unused food to combat waste, but has only recently paid attention to students.

Farid Khelef (28) came from Algeria to study in France. He would not think that one day he would wait for food aid.

‘Before, I worked in parallel with my studies as an electrician. “Because of the health crisis, I had almost no job,” he said while waiting for a bag from Linkee.

The organization started offering meals and fresh food to students in October – and twice a week they serve about 500 people, compared to 200.

“We are a safety net for all these students … who do not have enough money to buy food and have no other solution than to fetch quality food and at the same time find a friendly atmosphere,” said Julien Meimon. , the organization’s president.

With a smile, Ideddaim shows her bag filled with salad, cauliflower, apples, smoked salmon, yogurt and chocolate. But she comes to the food distribution site for more than just basic food.

“It’s a big moral boost – knowing that I’m going to eat well and come to a place with a lot of people and that everyone’s in a good mood,” she said.

With only three weeks of personal lessons since September and new to the city, she has struggled to create social connections that are essential to building an adult life.

“It was not easy to integrate and to meet people,” she said. In the meantime, she likes to talk on the phone with her grandmother, who also lives alone, and looks forward to working in the Atlantic coastal resort of Biscarrosse this summer – as long as restaurants reopen.

Many young people struggle as well. Nightline in Paris, a hotline for students, has experienced a 40% call since the country entered its first exclusion in March.

According to the French health agency, Sante Publique France, depression among people aged 18 to 24 jumped from 16.5% in early April to 31.5% in November.

Authorities spotted the problem and began this month asking universities to allow students to return to their lessons one day a week in order to regain some normalcy. The institutions have also started offering 1 euro meals.

There are concerns that the pandemic could have long-term consequences for the youth. In the UK, the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimates that young people will miss more than half a year of facial learning, or more than 5% of their total school time, by the end of the year. country’s latest national exclusion. The loss of education could reduce the average lifetime earnings by $ 55,325 per student, it is estimated.

Ideddaim, who prefers to look on the bright side, said she feels privileged to get food aid at all.

“That kind of aid does not exist in many countries, and we are fortunate enough in France to have it,” she said.

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Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, Danica Kirka in London and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Follow the pandemic AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.