Standing on solid ground
When Baba* speaks about his homeland, his eyes still light up. ‘It is a beautiful place,’ he says. But war changed everything. After years of hardship and uncertainty, Baba and his family were forced to flee their country and rebuild their lives as refugees. ‘The war… it finished us,’ he says.
When the opportunity came to begin life again in New Zealand, Baba felt hopeful for the first time in a long while. ‘That day felt like God opened a door,’ he recalls. ‘We were happy. Together. Safe.’ But life brought more challenges. For years, Baba cared for his father after a devastating stroke. ‘I looked after him for five years,’ he says. ‘Every day until he passed away. He was my father… my responsibility. I would do it again.’ Then his life took another heartbreaking turn.
Baba’s marriage broke down. His ex-wife kept the house in her name and the children. The doors he once opened with a key were suddenly locked to him. And just like that, the man who had survived so much was sleeping in his car on the streets. ‘For five months’, he says quietly, ‘I slept outside shop entrances. In my car. Sometimes no food. Sometimes no shower. Believe me… sometimes I cried. I said, “Why this life again?”’
Then he walked through the doors of a Salvation Army centre. And thanks to your support, his life changed. ‘They welcomed me like family,’ he says. ‘The people there… they did not judge me. They helped me with food, clothes, showers—everything.’
The Salvation Army helped Baba secure a safe, warm apartment. ‘Now I am dry,’ he says. ‘I am warm. I am safe. It is wonderful.’ And now that he is standing on solid ground, Baba is looking outward—not inward. ‘Because I know what it feels like not to eat. To be cold. To have no one. The Salvation Army helped me so much. Now I want to help others,’ he says.
Baba has survived war, displacement, loss and homelessness. Yet when he talks about what matters most today, he doesn’t speak about survival. He speaks about gratitude. And that gratitude belongs to supporters like you. ‘I want people to know this,’ Baba says. ‘You saved me. And now I will save others.’
Thank you for helping people like Baba find safety, dignity and hope when they need it most.
*Name changed to protect identity.