CECILIA: "THANKS TO MY WORK I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET INVOLVED IN SOCIETY"
Before emigrating to Spain, Cecilia had to close her business in Colombia and sell everything they had. At the end of 2021, they were granted asylum, which allowed them to obtain a work permit for three months, but it was not easy to get a job "They wouldn't even look at my CV, even though I had a work permit. We were always told to come back when we had all the final papers. I started to think: "Will I find it impossible?" explains Cecilia.
However, despite her determination to better herself and look for work, Cecilia did not always achieve the desired result. "Everything changed thanks to Action Against Hunger. Just before my permit expired I was able to enter the employment programme and now I have finally got a job and an income," she says.
Action Against Hunger programmes focus in Spain on promoting the social and occupational inclusion of people at risk of exclusion generating opportunities through entrepreneurship and employability actions. "Thanks to my work I have been able to join society, pay social security, and that will allow me to continue getting my papers later on. Most people reject you when they see you in this situation; being included makes you feel like a real part of the system."
Cecilia and her family are still living at her sister-in-law's house, but she is already beginning to glimpse a better future in which there is also room for a personal dream, to carry out a project with which she will give back everything she has been given: "I would like to be able to open my restaurant, also with the help of Action Against Hunger and its entrepreneurship programmes. A space in which to hire people at risk of social and occupational exclusion who are going through the same process that my family and I have gone through. Also, to be able to find our own place and go our own way together."
At Action Against Hunger we support the idea that decent employment is an essential tool to fight food insecurity and social inequality. Cecilia's access to a job has also had a positive impact on the lives of her entire family: "My youngest son is integrated in school and playing basketball on a team. And the eldest has been accepted at the University of Navarra to continue his studies in business administration and law." She continues: "Thanks to Action Against Hunger, I have been able to earn money, and I have a future. It's like a clear horizon that opens up so that I can help my family to get ahead. In the short term, I will be able to sort out the paperwork, and thanks to my work will be able to apply for employment status and continue paying social security."