WILLEMSTAD - The Ministry of Labor, Social Development and Welfare (SOAW) helped 1,841 people pay the Aqualectra bill in the first half of this year. In total, more than six hundred thousand guilders has been spent on financial support for water and electricity for people who cannot afford this themselves.
In return, all recipients had to participate in an awareness-raising project for efficient water and electricity consumption. The participants also learned about making budgets, setting priorities, and purchasing cheaply. For example, SOAW Minister Hensley Koeiman hopes to prevent these people from ending up in debt again.
Now there are 7,621 people on welfare benefits in Curaçao, this is divided into 2,960 men and 4,661 women. An extra 20 million guilders have been earmarked for the welfare recipients in the 2021 budget. Koeiman also explains the value of the social card, whereby the money is not directly deposited into the account of welfare workers: “There are people who still spend the money on the hairdresser or on alcoholic drinks, these are concrete examples why there are families who do not have food.”
