Aussie single mum living on one meal a day reveals daily struggle
A 56-year-old woman has been counting down the days until she becomes homeless.
Rita Sacchetta, from Munno Para in Adelaide, has been living on the line since she lost her job in March 2019.
Although she has been consistently applying for work, she has not gotten to the interview stage for any so far.
And she is not the only one.
The Australian Council of Social Service has warned that single mothers and older women - both categories Rita falls into - are continually left behind, with the coronavirus pandemic making the situation much worse.
Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, has said that around 45,000 Australian women over the age of 45 are at risk of living on the streets.
“We hear time and time again from older women that they are suffering age discrimination in finding paid work,” she said.
“Even before COVID, older women were the fastest-growing group of people ending up on unemployment payments.”
A report released by Grattan Institute this year supported Dr Goldie’s claims, finding that women were more affected than men during the COVID-19 recession.
Eight percent of women lost their jobs during the pandemic, while only four percent of men did.
Women were also more likely to miss out on JobKeeper payments because it excluded short-term casuals, who are mostly women.
Rita, who had been paying rent through the National Rental Affordability Scheme - which provides incentives for affordable housing - said the scheme was no longer offered in her area as of May.
Additionally, she was reliant on JobSeeker and couldn’t afford rent without the payment.
This had left her counting down the days until May 25, when she would be without a roof over her head.
“It absolutely terrifies me thinking about being on the streets,” she said.
That is until Housing SA, an organisation providing low-cost living, stepped in on the day she was due to be evicted.
At the time of writing she was moving to housing in a different part of South Australia.
Her adult children are in no position to help, and Rita has to “ration” her food and diabetes medication in order to make ends meet and rely on charity from organisations such as Anglicare and the Salvation Army.
Often eating only one meal a day to cut costs since losing her job, Rita has since lost half her body weight due to the reduced calorie intake.
Last month, she was hospitalised after her son found her on the ground, dazed, and suffering from ketoacidosis, a complication that arises when blood sugar levels become too high that can lead to acidic blood and even death.
“I nearly died,” she said.
Commenting on the cycle of poverty that can keep people trapped, Rita said: “If you keep people in poverty, unable to eat and take medications, then people are going to get sicker and sicker.
“It’s a vicious cycle.”
With a history of working as a cleaner, kitchen hand, and at a laundry, Rita is continuing to look for work in these areas.
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