A huge thanks to Rona MacKenzie, Emily Neill Aldeheri and Bertin, English teachers in Huelva, who met with some of his students to me last night. Huelva is a port and industrial city of 150,000 people, some of which Rona calls "the real Andalucia, not tourism."
Mining has been big business since Roman times, Rio Tinto Minerals was founded here, the name of the local river. But in a country affected by unemployment, especially among young people, this part of Spain now quite well in the accessory list: about 45% of those under age 25 are unemployed here.
Spain celebrates one of his many holidays on Wednesday, the streets of Huelva and the terraces were filled with couples and families for the evening. It does not, on the surface, much like the city, living in a crisis.
. "We are living abroad, living in the street," said Encarnacion Codeseda, an unemployed mother of two: "We can not stay home, it is impossible for us, but look around:. In time, everyone has had three or four cafes, a couple of gin and tonic now have a coffee and make it last. all night. "
Encarnacion gave up work when she had two children, now aged between 12 and 15: ". It 'was more expensive to have them as day-care center does not work for me" Now 45 and divorced, lives about 400 € a month benefits "in addition to what my ex-husband decided to give it to me." His only consolation is that he will no longer pay the mortgage on his house.
"I like to do something - commercial work, administration, tourism," he says. "But the problem is that it would be here in Huelva, because of children. And not only does not have a job here. And even if they were young would take precedence. And 'hopeless. People get all this training, all of this training All of these stages, and then at the end of each nothing to do. Nothing. "
As Encarnacion, Danielle Martin, 20, took a class in English, funded by the government last year to strengthen its curriculum. "I have already worked abroad, in Italy, three months, and it is clear to me I can not find work here," he said. Dani can not find a job in the restaurant this summer, but has not been a good year - tysten beach bars are a third of what they used to be - and the owner failed to pay him until he went to police, a formal complaint.
In desperation, Dani began a course of two years to become a chef. "I could not survive if I live with my parents," she said. "I will definitely leave Huelva, probably leave Spain to find work."
It is certainly not looking for a solution from a "inefficient and out-of-touch" state, the weight of the Spanish bureaucracy, he said, is huge. Everything is "too rigid too hard, too hard, too long "means to start your own business is a gauntlet almost nobody has the time or resources to operate. A € 5,000 grants generally arrive "just in time for you to go bankrupt."
Jose Serrano, 32, is also starting a course - funded by a union, to train home care workers - later this month after being unemployed for almost a year. "I'm surprised," he said, "there was unrest in Spain about surgeries. You have to get on a bus now, if you're sick of electricity, public transport, water costs are increasing.. The people must pay for their medications. Everything has become much more expensive and drying work. "
Only in one area, where, he said Rona and Emily, was teaching English. "Everyone believes that the only way they can find a decent job," says Rona. "But every week, we run into former students, graduates who were well paid, full-time job, a decent way of life, family, and you just lost your job." At this time, Emily said, "no one can see without light in the tunnel."
Mining has been big business since Roman times, Rio Tinto Minerals was founded here, the name of the local river. But in a country affected by unemployment, especially among young people, this part of Spain now quite well in the accessory list: about 45% of those under age 25 are unemployed here.
Spain celebrates one of his many holidays on Wednesday, the streets of Huelva and the terraces were filled with couples and families for the evening. It does not, on the surface, much like the city, living in a crisis.
. "We are living abroad, living in the street," said Encarnacion Codeseda, an unemployed mother of two: "We can not stay home, it is impossible for us, but look around:. In time, everyone has had three or four cafes, a couple of gin and tonic now have a coffee and make it last. all night. "
Encarnacion gave up work when she had two children, now aged between 12 and 15: ". It 'was more expensive to have them as day-care center does not work for me" Now 45 and divorced, lives about 400 € a month benefits "in addition to what my ex-husband decided to give it to me." His only consolation is that he will no longer pay the mortgage on his house.
"I like to do something - commercial work, administration, tourism," he says. "But the problem is that it would be here in Huelva, because of children. And not only does not have a job here. And even if they were young would take precedence. And 'hopeless. People get all this training, all of this training All of these stages, and then at the end of each nothing to do. Nothing. "
As Encarnacion, Danielle Martin, 20, took a class in English, funded by the government last year to strengthen its curriculum. "I have already worked abroad, in Italy, three months, and it is clear to me I can not find work here," he said. Dani can not find a job in the restaurant this summer, but has not been a good year - tysten beach bars are a third of what they used to be - and the owner failed to pay him until he went to police, a formal complaint.
In desperation, Dani began a course of two years to become a chef. "I could not survive if I live with my parents," she said. "I will definitely leave Huelva, probably leave Spain to find work."
It is certainly not looking for a solution from a "inefficient and out-of-touch" state, the weight of the Spanish bureaucracy, he said, is huge. Everything is "too rigid too hard, too hard, too long "means to start your own business is a gauntlet almost nobody has the time or resources to operate. A € 5,000 grants generally arrive "just in time for you to go bankrupt."
Jose Serrano, 32, is also starting a course - funded by a union, to train home care workers - later this month after being unemployed for almost a year. "I'm surprised," he said, "there was unrest in Spain about surgeries. You have to get on a bus now, if you're sick of electricity, public transport, water costs are increasing.. The people must pay for their medications. Everything has become much more expensive and drying work. "
Only in one area, where, he said Rona and Emily, was teaching English. "Everyone believes that the only way they can find a decent job," says Rona. "But every week, we run into former students, graduates who were well paid, full-time job, a decent way of life, family, and you just lost your job." At this time, Emily said, "no one can see without light in the tunnel."
