Everything was actually going well in Sarah S.’s life. She lived with her husband and their two sons in a rented apartment with a garden in the Würm Valley, both were employed and had a good income. But her husband’s alcohol consumption worried S. The number of beers in the evening grew, there was a fight. Perhaps, the young woman reflected, he would be happier if they lived close to his family. So they broke up the tents in the Würmtal, gave notice of the apartment, sold the inventory and moved with the children to her husband’s home village abroad.
A decision that S. soon regretted. There was a big house there, but there was no longer any way for her to practice her profession. And the hope that her husband would drink less back home was not fulfilled either. “I saw no future there, neither for myself nor for the children,” she says in retrospect.
She plucked up courage and moved back to the Würmtal with her two sons in December 2021, initially to her mother. But there wasn’t room for everyone in the one-and-a-half-room apartment, and despite her applications, S., who was all alone, couldn’t find a new apartment. For six months, one and a half rooms in the homeless shelter became the home of the family of three, they shared the bathroom and kitchen with the other residents. Sarah S. didn’t give up, she resumed her training as a nanny, got her driver’s license and continued to apply for apartments at the same time, with the support of Tanja Fees from the homeless counseling service of the Awo housing emergency aid.
The two sons are now attending elementary school. The older one, however, is struggling a lot with the experiences of the past few months, he has difficulties with social interaction at school. He was admitted to being accompanied at school, but only for lessons, not for lunchtime supervision, which makes his visit there impossible. Sarah S. had to pause her education to look after her son after school. She is currently working part-time as a temp.
In the fall, the good news came: an apartment had been found. There was, of course, little money to set it up. First and foremost, the children’s room should be well furnished, that was important to S., with a loft bed, a wardrobe and a good desk. “The children have never had a real children’s room,” says the mother. “You should feel comfortable.” At the desk, the brothers now do their homework or do handicrafts, for example colorful Christmas stars.
The money for a kitchen could be collected at short notice via the housing emergency aid and the SZ Advent calendar. S. is very grateful for that. She likes to bake with her children at the worktop, they have already made cookies. “It’s just a wonderful feeling when you come in from outside and know you have a warm apartment that belongs to you.” Her son is also much more balanced now that the family has been living in their own apartment. Therapy should now help him to become completely stable again. Once that has been achieved, S. finally wants to complete her training. She looks to the future with a vengeance. “As unlucky as I was, I was also lucky,” she says. “My experience is: there is always a solution.”
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