While the 8-year-old Monti is worried for his present as well as the Christmas spirit, many other children won’t have either the former or the latter.
Monti is a British child who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Johnson, asking about Santa Claus. Unexpectedly, Mr. Johnson answered and reassured him: Father Christmas “works quickly and safely”. He also confirmed that leaving hand sanitiser by the biscuits was an excellent idea.
In spite of claiming “If the Christmas spirit isn't kept alive then no one will be happy.", I don’t think Monti is spoiled. I believe he is a naïve child who has always lived his life in a safe, warm place. I imagine him as generous, responsible and maybe a bit worried. He cares for Santa’s as well as his safety. But he’s still a child after all, and despite the pandemic, he’s waiting for his presents. A bit of hand sanitiser may convince Santa and Rudolf to be brave to come out of his grottos in Lapland.
I’m naïve and I like presents. I am like Monti… but much older and less generous. I haven’t thought of replacing a glass of warm milk with hand sanitiser. Nevertheless, the red chubby man 'brought me' an unexpected heavy parcel. From the weight it had to be a bottle of wine, I thought. I am not exactly keen on wine, but a present is always a present. Once I opened it, I saw it was filled with the simplest thing an Italian could think about: pasta!
Pasta is an everyday food. It’s a 10-minute meal after a packed day or a cheap dinner with friends. It’s not a Christmas lunch with uncles and aunts.
I would like to thank Babbo Natale who decided to focus on simplicity instead of Christmas sweets. Moreover, it gives us the chance to think of who will eat pasta for Christmas lunch. We might even consider saving on wine to give something for charity or simply to our neighbours. Since the beginning of the pandemic many families have been facing a hard time, many others have been in such a situation (or in a worst one) for years. Something as simple as pasta or bread can be a relief.
For someone else, Christmas is just another day on which they struggle to put food on the table. Even if they put hand sanitiser by the cookies -if they had it-, Saint Nicholas won’t visit their homes. Baba Noel won’t leave them even a parcel with bread next to the chimney. They have to stand in a line in front of a bakery for hours.
Since the beginning of the crises, in Syria, bread prices have quadrupled. Families can purchase it in limited amounts in authorised bakery through the so-called “smartcard” system. This system has been introduced to tackle the rapid increase in prices of basic commodities and the deterioration of the purchasing power.
The ration of subsidised (‘public’) bread for families doesn’t always take the number of members into account, and the bundle weight have been repeatedly reduced during the conflict. A Family of two gets a packet, one of four gests two portions, while a family of seven or more can only get four packets. Which means putting large families at risk of starvation. The ones who can afford it, could buy resold subsidised bead on the black market.
In 2011 a bundle of bread (ca. 1.5 kg) cost 15 Syrian Lira (SYP). 9 years later it is sold in state-run bakeries for 54 (ca. 0.9 €) . In Areas where there are no authorised retailers, like some cities in Idlib and Aleppo, the average price of (non-subsidised) bread is 142 SYP (0.23€) per bundle. The Price in cross-border regions jumps to more than 500 SYP/bundle (0.80€). Considering that the average wage of a farmer or a construction worker is less than 3,000 Liras per day (ca. 4.50 €), an extra packet of bread might cost up to 1/5 of your daily income.“Our solution so far is to eat fewer meals and try to use rice or bulgur wheat if we can find it. I can only afford to buy black market bread once a week.” Claims Abu Yasser, husband and father of 5.
The increment is not confined to bread in few Syrian governorates, it applies to food in general all across the country. Compared to last year, the price of a food basket (wheat flour, rice, bulgur, sugar, tea, aubergine, potatoes…) has increased significantly from 50% up to 119% in the governorate of Idlib. Damascus (in the picture) has recorded an increase by 93%. Limits have been introduced on heating fuel (diesel and butane gas) as well, resulting in an increase by more than 100% on the informal market. For me black market is for drugs or stolen cars. The furthest my imagination can go is cigarettes or alcohol during wartime. But they are buying bread and sugar, butane gas in order not to starve or freeze to death.
To conclude, I would like to thank those who thought of something as simple as pasta instead of some Christmasy treat, as well as the children who are naïve and care about your health because they are brave enough to write a letter to the Prime Minister asking if some drops of hand sanitiser can save Christmas. With time, books, news and awareness they might be the ones who make the Christmas spirit a little bit fairer. Maybe not only on 25th December.
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