SHELTER AT LAST

SHELTER AT LAST

As we wandered around looking for work and a place to live, I met another woman in the park who said that there were shelters we could go to. I told her I didn’t know about this because I don’t know how to read nor write. Who knows what type of papers they need?

She said, “Don’t worry, I will help you”. She said she was Christian and God had sent her to find us in the park. Both kind women were urging us to go to a shelter. They said they would help us. She gave me a number but I didn’t even have a telephone. She called the place for me, the “refuge”, but they didn’t answer. The lady with whom we were staying for the 3rd night was able to reach them at night. She spoke English so she was able to speak with them. She explained to them that we were a couple with 3 children with no family here.

The shelter took us. They explained their rules to us. We could be there at 6 until 10 in the evening, but we had to be up at 5 in the morning. The nice lady said we could stay with her another night, but my husband thought it was better that we enter the shelter that night so we wouldn’t be on the street again. The lady called her sister who took us in her car and she left us at the shelter near San Pedro St.

My husband found some work but I couldn’t find any. So he would work and I would be in the park in the day. I would get the children and we would go to the shelter at night. Whatever my husband earned, he would turn in to the shelter and they would save it for him. We lived like this for a month until the shelter said we could use the money we had saved to find a place or go to another shelter.

The shelter said we should save more, that we did not have enough. They took us to another shelter on 88th and Broadway and we stayed there for another month. It was much nicer there. We had our own room and there was a place to cook. It was more of a home for the kids.

The shelter continued to save our money for us. They said we had to now start looking for a place to live. They would help with the rent deposit and help us with a bed and furniture. They continued to help us save. They said, “Look for a place and we will even leave you there.”

To tell you the truth, we had nothing. When we fled from the other place, we left everything, even photos of our children, my sisters. Everything! Sometimes I remember when my children were small and learning to walk, all the memories were left behind. All of them! But it’s here in my head. I will never lose that.

The shelter told us that if I find a place, I was not to talk to them. They would go and talk to them. Not me. Since my husband worked, he asked me to look for a place. Just to get the information.

I don’t know how to read and write, and my husband only knows a little bit too. But we know the “For Rent” sign by the colors. Its red and white. He said to just find the sign and then he would go to look at it.