“Each Day Is A Fight To Maintain Our Physical And Mental Health”

From Anti-Poverty Network SA member, Annie

I was a regular, caring person. Still, sometimes I wondered how a person could have so much discord in their lives; their desperation and despair could make me step back when they needed someone to step forward.

Then, at 49 years old, I found myself living in a tent alongside my son (age 15 ½).

He had to leave school, cut off from peers and everyday experiences. Instead of batting homework, he battled to maintain an appetite, as with no kitchen, we were reduced to surviving on expensive takeout. Besides, an outdoor kitchen invites rats rather than your friends and family to dine with you. I lost 16 kilos that first winter and ended up in the Emergency more than once. A week before my 50^th, I had a breakdown.

Thanks to the Foodbank, we’ve survived nearly three years of instability and constant threats and changes in location, living out of a storage shed to stay close to family, friends and work. Though we spend so much time “just” surviving, my son will start university next year as I complete my bachelor’s. While no child should have CPTSD, I am proud of his work, with the help of Headspace, in reducing his stress and trauma score from approximately 70 to 20.

Still living in an unsafe environment, with my phone cam on in case of an incident that might have police or an ambulance called. Nestled between two alcoholics, casualties of the housing crisis, in a poorly run rooming house that is falling apart (Just one of the many owned by a local home maintenance company), I pay nearly $400 p/w for a bedroom, a space for our desks, and a nook large enough for my single bed.

Each day is a fight to maintain our physical and mental health so that we might move forward and create the safety and stability we require to thrive.