Hey folks, my name is Shantoi. I am currently in a situation where I have no place whatsoever to call my home. I constantly have to stay with family ( they usually send me away after a while ) or friends. I’m now staying with a friend and every other day her mom asks when am I leaving. I’m working from home but I can barely work as much as I want to because there is no privacy here and the connection is terrible. I tried applying for a loan but I haven’t been paid consistently enough to qualify for one because of my living conditions. I have a 5 year old daughter who will be 6 tomorrow, she doesn’t live with me and it has been a huge burden on me.

I used to live with my mom but she died 9 months after my dad died. I was 22 years old. Ever since then I’ve been staying with family members who only took advantage of me because they knew I had nowhere else to go. I ended up having a child while going through anxiety-depression and I was with my daughter’s dad at the time. I later found out that he got married and he also had a baby on the way. I then had to leave because we were no longer together. So I was back staying on people’s sofas and then my depression got worse because I hadn’t fully dealt with the fact that I had no parents, family members are hanging me out to dry. I ended up having to ask my daughter’s dad to keep her.

There were nights by myself that I didn’t eat, didn’t sleep because I had so much on my mind. My daughter then had a VSD. A hole in her heart that kept growing. By the grace of God the children’s hospital granted us a free surgery which was successful. Fast forward to now she’s healthy and thriving. She keeps crying though and saying that she misses me and every time that I see her I leave with tears on my face. I have a good job but I can’t work because I’m being pressured to hurry up and leave. I’ve been here at my friend for 3 weeks. If I get the help that I need I can afford a comfortable apartment for my child and myself, I can pay for a few months in advance so that I can give myself time to heal mentally. I don’t have any furniture because my family members that I was staying with took everything for themselves after my mom died. I just want to give my daughter a home with me and also give myself a chance to lift my head up.

Staying at another persons home is something that I am trying my hardest to avoid