They have found their way...

Stories of the people who have found their way to normal life in our homes last year. Their names have been changed.

Year 2007

„Beauty”
Nice, young and beautiful, when she came to us at the beginning of 2006 she was pregnant. After two months she started living in the Home for Single Mothers. She came back in summer  2007 with a one-year-old child. She is an orphan, her brothers are alcohol addicts. She has only basic education and very negative life experiences – she has worked abroad as a prostitute against her will. When she came back she was pregnant, depressed and infected by jaundice. We helped her get her ID card, benefit for single mothers and a chance for  a social flat. We teach her how to take care of her child, how to treat jaundice and we also help her start trusting other people again. She is very co-operative, she takes part in workshops aimed at employment activation organized by Labour Office, and she works for our centre.

 “Pedro”
A man in his mid-fifties; after years of drinking and vagrancy, left by his family, he came to us in 2003 wanting to start a normal, simple life. He took part in AA meetings, he worked in the kitchen of our shelter, he was looking for a job. After the first meeting with his family he had one short break in his abstention from alcohol but he got back on his feet and came back to us. He rebuilt our trust and the trust of his family. He found a job after a year, started living with his family and got out of homelessness.
 
 “Addicted”
A young man in his mid-twenties left home because of the conflict with his parents, and especially with his father. It was connected with drugs. He came to the shelter in 2005. He tried drug rehabilitation three times, he failed twice and during this time he didn’t live in the shelter. The third attempt, in 2007, proved successful. With the support of our shelter he decided to continue his education. At present he lives in our shelter and he is taking a job training course at the Centre of Social Inclusion. He spent Christmas Eve with us.

 “Engineer”
After his company was declared bankrupt he lost his livelihood and his flat which was heavily indebted. His wife and kids had gone abroad much earlier. He had difficulties with finding a job but he didn’t want his family to help him. He spent 2 years in our shelter – from 2005 to 2007.  Easy-going, teetotaler, supported by our workers, he has completed many courses (a foreign language course too) and found a job with a company flat. He has visited us some time ago: he’s reestablished contacts with his family, he has a job – he’s a department manager and he’s generally satisfied with the change for the better.

 “Thanks to Schengen”
Because her parents split up, the young girl stayed with her father in Poland. The father was an alcohol addict and didn’t care for the girl. Her grandmother looked after her but after she died the girl was left alone. She met a perfect candidate for a husband and after a quick wedding due to her pregnancy she started living with her parents-in-law. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. The girl and her husband rented a flat but after the child’s birth her relationship with the husband started to break down – eventually he threw her out with a one-month-old child. Her sister helped her a little; her mother, who has a new family abroad, wanted to help her too but the girl’s husband didn’t give his consent for the child to leave Poland. Broke and depressed, she came to our shelter. Supported by her psychologist and fellow residents she started working, got a divorce and thanks to the Schengen treaty she was able to take the child and move in with her mother who promised to help them start anew and get a new home.

 “Student”
She came from a little village to the big city to study but she had to earn a living. She worked in gastronomy, she lived in a room rented from a family. After a year she met a boy, they started living together and they also planned their future together. They moved in with his parents. When it appeared that she was pregnant her fiancé started beating her and so she ran away. Her friends were helping her until she gave birth to her child, and then the ¦wiat na Tak Foundation found the place in the shelter for them. Our workers helped her to establish paternity of her child, to get alimony and a social flat. While she was waiting for the flat, she was looking after the child, helping in the shelter and working as a carer for older people. In 2007, after she received a small flat, she moved in with her child. She’s still working, she keeps in touch with our shelter and she has started extramural studies. After many hardships and bad experiences, this brave girl is fulfilling the plan with which she had originally come to the city.

‘After 7 years”
He came to the shelter for the first time in summer 2000. He successfully finished a rehab program for alcohol addicts.  He tried to work in many different places but somehow he wasn’t able to stick to one job for a longer period of time despite the fact that he was always sober. He moved to a rented room in spring 2003 and he was employed on casual work contract. He spent the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005 in a penal institution. When he was set free he came back to the shelter. The fact that he didn’t have a permanent job deepened his frustration and fear of being addicted again. At the beginning of 2007 he started working which was satisfying both for him and his employer who thought his employee was a good worker. After 3 months of work he decided to leave the shelter. He visited us at the beginning of 2008 – it’s still OK.