Amalie (24) lives on a low income: - Feels a constant pressure in her chest
After all the bills have been paid, Amalie Engen is left with less than a hundred kroner. Now she has published an advertisement on Finn.no to ask for help for Christmas.
Amalie Engen (24) lives in Kolbotn and lives on work settlement allowance. In an age where everything is expensive, her budget has become much tighter.PHOTO: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / NRK
Sofia StorhaugJournalist
Published Nov 17 at 01:50 Updated Nov. 22 at 01:28
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- I am 24 years old and I am not allowed to take part in things that others see as a matter of course. I feel that I end up outside society. My everyday life is lonely.
Amalie Engen is on employment verification allowance from Nav. A year ago she moved to Kolbotn, just outside Oslo.
A lot of worries
- You feel a constant pressure in your chest. Every day there are new worries, like how am I going to make things go up. How am I going to afford dinner today?
Including housing benefit, she has around NOK 16,000 a month. This will cover housing, food, electricity, telephone and clothing.
In a time where everything has become more expensive, she struggles to make ends meet. Yesterday, Engen appeared in Debatten to talk about his financial situation today.
The meadow is not alone in having little.
Engen is not alone in having little and that is why she is taking part in the Debate on Tuesday. To put a face on poverty in Norway.PHOTO: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / NRK
The food center says that they will distribute 11 million meals this year. They estimate that the need is greater and think they could distribute twice as much food as they do today.
Never seen such numbers before
The Salvation Army reports a sharp increase in households that seek out their food distributions. In Tromsø alone, the city Amalie originally comes from, there has been an increase of 86 per cent.
Christian Poppe is a researcher at the Consumer Research Institute and says that they have just carried out the survey "Animal time under sailing".
The figures he refers to are drastic:
- We have never seen such a result on this index before. We have seen a doubling of households at the two lowest levels. Even during the corona, we didn't see anything close to this. What we call dear time is a wider crisis and hits harder in many more groups.
According to him, it is families with children, the disabled and benefit recipients like Amalie who sit at the bottom of the Norwegian table.
Help for Christmas
Amalie smiles gently. Last week she published an advertisement on finn.no.
- I asked for help for Christmas. I don't have money left over to be able to prioritize Christmas things. I will be celebrating Christmas alone in Oslo and wanted to make it a little cosy. But since I don't have money for Christmas decorations, a Christmas tree or Christmas presents, I asked for help with that.
This week she has NOK 40 to live on.
- That's enough for bread and milk. If there is something I need, I will have to use the Mastercard. I am constantly in the red.
Five years ago, Amalie won a million kroner on a scratch card. She says that much of the money went to help disabled family members.
- I was 19 years old, so that money disappeared quickly.
PROUD: Renate Søderland and Amalie Engen discuss in the corridors at Marienlyst.PHOTO: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / NRK
She is in the company of two other ladies. Renate Søderlund and Cathrine Dahl Bjerkøe. Both in their 40s. Both moms. Both on work settlement allowance.
All three of them are in the same situation. But meet each other for the first time in the corridors of NRK at Marienlyst.
Will make a difference
- It's nice to be able to be together on this. It's a bit scary going to the Debate, but we have to put up with it. We don't do it for ourselves, we do it for everyone in our situation. Søderlund chuckles a little.
TOGETHER: Cathrine Dahl Bjerkøe and Renate Søderland are in the same situation as Amalie Engen. Here they stand together with Elisabeth Thoresen, leader of the AAP campaign.PHOTO: CHRISTIAN BREIDLID / NRK
- In fact, I feel that I have drawn the golden ticket for Willy Wonka. I get to come to the Debate to tell politicians how this situation can be improved.
Søderlund and Bjerkøe look at Engen. Together, they go up the stairs to the studio where presenter Fredrik Solvang is ready to welcome the guests.
- I feel proud because I stand up and talk about a very difficult topic. I'm proud because it seems like it does other people good to hear it. I am proud because it opens the eyes of more people.
After sending, the messages tick into Engen's mobile phone. Before sending, she feared criticism and hatred in her inbox, but in these messages there is only warmth.
After this case was published, NRK added the information that Amalie Engen won one million kroner on a scratch card when she was 19 years old.
22.10
V
Wild :WildI am contacting you because hearing about your wishes for Christmas made me sick to my stomach. Have experienced severe poverty myself. Both as a child and as a single mother in adulthood. I know how shameful it feels to live in perpetual poverty. That's why I want to give you praise for having the courage to appear on national TV and tell about your everyday life.
22.15
E
Erik:ErikHi Amalie. Were you the one who participated in the Debate? My brother and I would like to invite you to our house on Christmas Eve. We will be a small and warm group. Would you like to celebrate Christmas with us? Klem E
22:16
L
Lise:LiseHi Amalie :) I saw you on the Debate, and it made a big impression. I will be happy to help you with Christmas decorations!
22.20
K
Kari:KariJust have to say thank you so much for being so COURAGEOUS and GENEROUS to take part in the Debate!
22.30
N
Nils:NilsHello, Amalie. I don't have any Christmas decorations, unfortunately, but I see that I have two tickets to Kurt Nilssen's Christmas concert in Oslo Spektrum on 19 December that you can get from me. My roommate and I can't go ourselves, so we might as well give them away to someone who wants to get into the Christmas spirit. Let me know if you want them! Etc
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