As the virus crisis continues, hard-hit French youth are struggling

PARIS (AP) – On a recent evening, Leïla Ideddaim was waiting for a bag of food, along with hundreds of other French youths unable to make ends meet. She saw the gossip at the ceremony as a welcome by-product given her intense isolation during the pandemic.

The 21-year-old hotel and restaurant management student has seen her plans turned upside down by the virus crisis. With restaurants and tourist attractions closed and France under a 6pm curfew, her career prospects are uncertain. Strange jobs to keep her working during college are hard to find.

“I’m in the fog,” said Ideddaim, who moved to Paris last year and now struggles to meet her basic needs as well as her emotional needs.

She’s not alone. The long lines of young people waiting for food aid spreading through the Paris neighborhoods several times a week are a dramatic symbol of the toll the coronavirus has taken on French youth.

The pandemic has devastated economies around the world and pushed vulnerable people deeper into poverty or pour something into it for the first timeIn France, the economic consequences weighed particularly heavily on the young – and their misery was only exacerbated by interruptions in their studies and social interactions.

Almost a quarter of French youth cannot find work – two and a half times the national unemployment rate and one of the highest in the 27 countries of the European Union. Many college students now depend on food aid and various organizations have gathered to meet the need.

The pandemic has led to an increase in psychological complaints that authorities say are most acute in people out of work, those with financial difficulties and young adults. A student hotline has seen a wave of phone calls and young people pouring into psychiatric wards

As French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged, “it’s hard to be 20” in times of coronavirus.

Other European countries have also taken a particularly heavy toll on young people. In Belgium, some regions provide assistance to students to help them pay for food, rent, transport and psychological assistance. In Germany, a study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found that about one in three children suffers from pandemic-related anxiety, depression or psychosomatic symptoms, such as headaches or stomachaches.

For Ideddaim, who has to support himself, the pandemic means a spreadsheet that is not always correct. Every month she needs more than 800 euros ($ 970) for housing, transportation and utility bills. She couldn’t get a well-paid internship because restaurants are closed and hotels are in a precarious situation.

Instead, an internship at a campsite 45 kilometers east of Paris earns 300 euros a month – and eases her isolation. She also earns some money from occasional agency work in shopping centers. Still, she has spent almost all of her savings.

“I make a Google file and write my monthly expenses and fixed costs. So I check how much is coming in and calculate what I have left over and where I can put my belt on, for example for food, ”she said.

Ideddaim is just one of many needy students served by Linkee, an organization that has long been collecting and distributing unused food to reduce waste, but only recently turned its attention to students.

Farid Khelef, 28, came from Algeria to study in France. He could not have imagined that he would ever wait for food aid.

“I used to work parallel to my studies as an electrician. Due to the health crisis, I have been out of a job for almost four months, ”he said while waiting for a bag from Linkee.

The organization began offering meals and fresh food to students in October – and their biweekly handouts now serve about 500 people, against 200.

“We’re a safety net for all these students … who don’t have enough money to buy some food and have no other solution than to get some quality food and at the same time find a friendly atmosphere,” said Julien Meimon, the president of the organization.

With a smile, Ideddaim showed her bag filled with salad, cauliflower, apples, smoked salmon, yogurt and chocolate. But she comes to the food distribution site for more than just basic maintenance.

“It’s a great morale boost – to know that I’m going to eat well and that I’m coming to a place with a lot of people and everyone is in a good mood,” she said.

With only three weeks of in-person classes since September and new to the city, she’s struggling to create the social connections essential to building an adult life.

“It was not easy to integrate, to meet people,” she said. Meanwhile, she enjoys talking on the phone with her grandmother, who also lives alone, and looks forward to working in the Atlantic resort of Biscarrosse this summer – as long as the restaurants reopen.

Many young people struggle in the same way. Nightline in Paris, a student hotline, has seen a 40% increase in calls since the country first shut down in March.

According to the French national health service Sante Publique France, depression among people 18 to 24 years old rose from 16.5% in early April to 31.5% in November, during the country’s second lockdown.

Authorities have noticed the problem and, as of this month, have asked universities to allow students to return to classes one day a week to help them regain a sense of normalcy. The institutions have also started to provide meals for 1 euro.

There are concerns that the pandemic could have long-term implications for the youth. In the UK, the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimated that by the end of school, young people have missed more than half a year of face-to-face learning, or more than 5% of their total time in school. the country’s last national lockdown. The lost education could cut average lifetime earnings by £ 40,000 ($ 55,325) per student, it estimates.

Ideddaim, who prefers to look on the bright side, said she feels privileged to receive food aid at all.

“That kind of aid doesn’t exist in many countries, and we’re lucky to have it in France,” she said.

Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, Danica Kirka in London and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.