Project of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia The soup kitchen in Tetovo feeds 80 poor families   The first snow has already covered Sara and winter is felt in Tetovo. However, neither the cold nor the rain and the snow do not stop hundreds of families to gather in the garden of the kindergarten “Mladost” every day, next to the factory “Teteks” and to reach their hand out for a hot meal. Since not long ago in Tetovo started functioning the first soup kitchen within the project of the Government of Macedonia for opening soup kitchens for the poorest categories of population in all towns in the country. 21 kitchens have so far been opened and this one, in Tetovo is 22nd. Old people who barely prop on their canes and small children who are barely two, are regular visitors of the kindergarten, which, apart from the children who are its everyday visitors, has recently started cooking for the poor, too. There are handicapped and ill among them and most of them are decrepit and cannot come for their hot meal every day.   I am happy that someone has finally remembered us Seventy-year old Iljmi is one of them. He says that he barely survives, as he is ill and alone. There is no one to buy for him, to cook, he lives alone in the family house and he takes cares by himself. He has no money, except for the small donation that he receives from the state as a social case. But it is not enough either for drugs or for food and clothes. The idea of opening a soup kitchen is for him an opportunity at least once a day to try a hot meal and not to be hungry. With the plastic bag in his hands with the empty dishes from the previous day, he comes closer to the small window of the kindergarten kitchen and he takes today’s full boxes. Today he is going to eat soup, mash, burgers and salad. He is happy with the food and the people who, where he comes every day, are careful and good. The menu also includes potato dish, cabbage, baked beans, macaroni, lentil and other meals. “I am happy that someone has finally remembered us, the old, ill, poor and that this soup kitchen has been opened. Now at least we will not think of the hunger and how to survive till the next day. I come here every day in the kindergarten at noon to take my lunch as I have no one to cook for me. I have relatives but I do not want to bother them, I cannot force someone to take care of me every day. It is better this way, as long as I can go out I will come to the soup kitchen”, says Iljmi. Nadzi Krasniki also comes for her meal every day, together with her children, husband, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Bearer of the social help is her father-in-law Amdi, who is ill and cannot go out. He looks after her two-year old daughter every day while the other members of the family go to get some food. The Krasniki family has over twenty members who live as nomads by the river Pena in Tetovo. Their homes are improvised shacks made of cartons and pieces of plastic. None of them works, nor they have health insurance. They get minimal social help which is not enough even for the children. Before the opening of the soup kitchen, they found food in containers or from the good people who sometimes gave them the leftovers of their food. They also got by collecting paper or iron and sale on the refuse dumps, but it is not a constant job that would provide incomes for them. More hungry than full, says Nadzi, but they are happy that every day they can get at least one hot meal. They share it equally among themselves, but mostly for the children. “We are grateful that the soup kitchen has been opened for the poor in Tetovo. There is always enough food for everyone, people are good and if there is more food, they also give it to us. Every day there is soup and a nice meal and now they started giving us food at the weekends when the kindergarten does not work. It means that they think of us and we are very thankful for that”, says Nadzi.   Tetovo needs more soup kitchens However, she and most of the visitors of the soup kitchen in Tetovo are unanimous that one kitchen is too little for the needs of the poor in this town. The problem is that the kindergarten, located next to the factory “Teteks” is far from some Tetovo settlements and the old sick people who meet the conditions to be fed in a soup kitchen cannot go there every day. The government’s program includes only the social cases from the town area, in spite of the fact that the list of the poor from the villages is also big. For now, they say in the Center for Social Cases in Tetovo, there are not any conditions for them to be involved in the project. They think about expanding the soup kitchen in all four kindergartens in Tetovo, so that the hot meal is more accessible to the decrepit. For now, taking into consideration the fact that the kitchen has been functioning for less than a month, there are not any announcements for its expansion, but in the future, for meeting the needs of, above all, the handicapped, it is certain that the food will be distributed to more points, in the kindergartens in the center of the town, in the Drenovec settlement and the sports center. In the Center for Social Work they say that after the opening of the soup kitchen, lots of people address to them, asking them to get a license for a hot meal, but for now the number of the users of constant financial aid is limited and in the town zone there are 50 families. The number has increased with 30 more families that use social help. However, in Tetovo the users of financial help are 206 families in total, which means that neither half of them get food in the soup kitchen. Pensioners whose incomes are not enough for living, single mothers or handicapped people who do not receive any social help also come with a demand for hot meal. In the Center they say that for the time being the soup kitchen will be located in the kindergarten “Mladost”, but the local self-government has to think about a permanent solution. “In Tetovo there are deserted buildings that can easily be adapted and serve for this purpose. At the moment we are functioning only by taking food from the kitchen and in some other case the poor could be served lunch in a proper kitchen. The dishes have been provided by the local self-government that is responsible for the kindergarten’s work”, they say in the Center.   The menu is the same as for the children from the “Mladost” kindergarten In the kindergarten “Mladost” they say that the menu for the soup kitchen is the same as for the children from the kindergarten. Fresh food is prepared every day and it is various and attention is paid to meet nutritional rules. It is not a problem to cook for the present number of visitors of the soup kitchen and every Friday packages are prepared with canned food for the weekends. According to the kindergarten’s director, Ramie Dauti, there are not any problems related to expansion of the soup kitchen on the locations in the other kindergartens, if decided so in the future. Dauti says that food is given according to the list from the Center that they receive every day as there are many people who come and beg for a hot meal, saying they are entitled to it.