Earlier this year, we ran a survey for MDF recipients. The results confirmed the crucial importance of our grants in meeting essential needs and supporting people's wellbeing - offering a degree of dignity and choice, reflected in the contrasting responses to how destitution leaves people feeling, and the effect of being able to access MDF. Of the vast majority that used the grant to access food, substantial proportions used it to buy food that was culturally appropriate and/or needed for medical or dietary requirements. Over half used the fund to purchase toiletries, and over a third used it to travel to medical or legal appointments.
People also shared their emotional experiences of destitution, with comments such as:
- Destitution destroys the lives of brave women. It makes you lose your self-esteem.
- This is the worst thing you can ever do to someone, especially families and those who are able to work.
Finally, respondents shared powerful messages that they would like policymakers and general publics to hear, including :
- To stop making us destitute, because even they themselves (could not) stand such as situation (as what) we're going through without killing themselves.
- Don't let other people suffer like I have suffered. This is not normal to be left for 22yrs without support. This is a prison.
We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to fill out the survey and share their experiences and testimonies. Read the full results here.