Charity

Accommodation

Abandoned by her husband with little more than the clothes on her back, Charity was in the depths of despair when she came to The Salvation Army.

Charity spent the first few nights of her sudden separation camped out on the porch of her former home in a North Island city.

‘In December, my husband moved out. He left me standing in the driveway. I had nowhere to stay so I had to plead with him to take her [daughter] until I could find a stable place to live.’

With no family in New Zealand for support, she followed her husband and daughter to their new home in a small rural town to be near her daughter. After being served with a trespass order, Charity was moved on by police and spent several nights sleeping in a utility shed at a sports ground. Because she had no money, she did not eat during that time.

Charity and her daughter moved to New Zealand from Zimbabwe four years ago to join her husband who had secured work here. She obtained a work permit and returned to her profession of teaching. But unknown to Charity, she had already been divorced in absentia in a Zimbabwean court.

When Charity first arrived at The Salvation Army, lost and confused, its social workers arranged emergency accommodation. They helped organise a Work and Income New Zealand benefit for her while she awaited a new work permit, and provided food parcels to tide her over.

The Army arranged for a Zimbawean-born social work student who had spent time as an intern at The Salvation Army to work with Charity. Staff also helped organise a lawyer and supported Charity in her efforts to regain custody of her daughter through the Family Court.

By her own admission, Charity is a different person to the woman who turned up on The Salvation Army’s steps four months ago. She volunteers teaching new migrants and has started to think about a future for herself and her daughter in New Zealand.

‘Before I came [to The Salvation Army], I didn’t know what was going on for me but now I have a much more positive attitude and I can look forward.’