Hello everyone. This post was sent by a sister. Please read her story, what she went through. There are many of our brothers and sisters out there, who have no shelter. We should try to help them Inshallah. Stories like this really make you think. Inshallah, make dua, that this doesn’t happen to anyone you know, Inshallah and whoever it does happen to, that some way Allah will help them Inshallah, Ameen.

Also, her story removes the misconception that homeless people are losers. She was a victim but not a loser and eventually she found her way out of poverty.

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Subject: Shelter

As salaamu alaikum,

“so how did you get out from the shelter?”

Brother, I could write a book on this whole ordeal!  It began when my ex-husband (who married me when I had three children from a previous marriage) got us evicted from not paying rent, unbeknownst to me!  He admitted to me at that time that he had also been using several kinds of drugs as well as alcohol–This was shocking for me, as I was raised Muslim and had never been around ppl using drugs or alcohol.  That’s probably why I didn’t recognize the signs earlier.

With five children now, I eventually wound up in a shelter (not sister Nadia’s).  My youngest was only a couple of months old.  I stayed there for a month, but circumstances there became difficult, and my little sister insisted I come stay with her. Ironically, I raised that little sister from the time she was 10 until she married at 20 and never dreamed I’d impose upon her like that. We stayed in her family’s two bedroom apartment for about 8 months.

When I was at the shelter, I exhausted all means looking for housing.  I was blessed to be referred to a housing program (similar to section 8, but not the same, as they help with credit and eventually with home ownership) where I was accepted and just had to wait for my name to reach the top of the list.

Working a traditional job didn’t fit, because I could not afford childcare for my two little ones (both were under 2 then). So I worked from home doing what I could (I had previously done customer service from home, but with no home of my own and with smaller kids, I couldn’t have my own phone line or a quiet place to work in the home).  I helped a lawyer prepare legal documents, I edited college papers, websites, and even a book by a college professor; I braided hair, and I even sold dinners!

Well, Alhamdulillah, my name was called, and my kids and I are now nestled in a nice, accommodating home outside of Baltimore.  I continue to do small editing jobs ( I have 2 years towards a degree, and I’m an English major) and I am thinking of returning to freelance writing.

Sister Jamila