The Hunger Shame

With more than 20 per cent of Australian children going hungry every year, our country is in the gripof a silent food crisis most likely affecting a family you know, reports Alexandra Carlton.

- Alexandra Carlton

Angela Hammond will never forget the day she was forced to go to her daughter Chelsea's school and tell the teachers that she couldn’t afford to buy her little girl’s lunch. “I was bawling my eyes out,” she says of that awful day in mid-2017. “I was so embarrassed. It’s one thing going to your friends for help, but to have to go to the school … I just felt like, ‘How did I get here?’”

When Angela, 37, was still married, the idea of having to ask for help would have been unthinkable. The family, from Perth, had lived in a nice house, with two cars and regular holidays. Angela worked fulltime in childcare and as a part-time photographer until Chelsea was born.

But since splitting from her husband in 2012 and raising Chelsea on her own, it has become almost impossible to make ends meet. At first, the government benefits she received were enough to get by – about $1400 a fortnight. But when Chelsea turned eight, Angela saw her government income slashed to $1000 a fortnight. She is retraining at TAFE, studying community services, and actively looking for work, but is struggling to live almost entirely on Newstart allowance. “Once I pay my rent, I’m left with $130 a week for everything – food, bills, clothes. Everything,” she says.

Her one comfort is how the teachers at Chelsea’s school have opened their hearts to help the family. “The deputy principal actually makes lunch for my daughter every day. They slip it into her bag during class so the other kids don’t notice and refill it again the next day,” Angela says. “It’s really kind.”