Home changed everything for Shaima and her children

When they found themselves without a safe place to sleep, Shaima and her children were supported by Launch Housing.

Now they are living in a safe, affordable home and Shaima is studying with the aim of becoming a child psychologist.  

I came to Melbourne with just a suitcase and my three kids. We were in a motel and we had nothing. My only hope was for Centrelink to pay on time.  

The motel was not in a good surrounding for little kids.  I spent a lot of time searching the internet for help. I found Launch Housing and booked an Uber straight away.

Launch Housing found us emergency accommodation that night. 

In the motel, I couldn’t cook properly or pack a lunchbox. The fridge was so small I couldn’t even buy groceries to put in there. I had to go to the supermarket every day. We were in that motel for 6 months. In my spare time, I looked everywhere for a place to rent. My kids were so traumatised. I had to sleep on the floor with them. 

Then I was connected with Launch Housing’s Children’s Team. I felt unconditional support. They didn’t judge me or want to do anything other than help us.  I would tell my caseworker everything, like how, although I was at the rock bottom of my mental health, I had no other way but to be strong and take care of my kids.  

She enrolled my kids in school and childcare. She talked to the principal and they offered us free lunch. It was such a big thing. 

Children and mothers are so close. When a mother is suffering, kids feel it. I don’t know what I would have done if there was no support for my kids. 

The team arranged for the kids to go to gymnastics and boxing classes. It was a big relief.  When my daughter came back from boxing classes, she had a big smile, rosy cheeks, a radiant look. They also introduced me to a speech pathologist who came to my place and worked with my daughter. 

When I was introduced to my case worker who found me a home, everything changed. 

Like in a movie: the grey sky goes away. Everything is clean and beautiful, the birds are chirping. 

One of my Case Workers helped me with relocating my children to school and childcare closer to our new home. Everything was sorted. I started going to English classes. 

Now I have a peaceful little house. Our sleeping time is getting better and my kids are going on time to school. The school is a beautiful community. We go to swimming each weekend and all my kids are feeling so confident in the water.  

We have food inside our fridge. My kids are feeling loved, and nourished. 

Home is a feeling, not just a place and I believe that home breathes.  

Cooking is a way that you prove that this home is breathing. The more the aroma of food dominates the whole house it makes it more home. It adds more layers of me on the walls. My kids know when mummy is happy, she puts music on and cooks and dances with them. I remember when I was living in that motel, I couldn’t even fix a sandwich for my daughters. 

Being a single mother with three kids and juggling everything is tough, but I think challenge can be a fuel.  

I know that it all starts with me. I have a part-time job and I’m studying: My aim is to become a child psychologist, get a PhD and then one day when I retire return to my country and get a small cottage and do something for women in my village. 

I have seen for myself the importance of organisations like Launch Housing that help women and children. I hope this organisation and the people who support it never stop and can reach out to every woman and child who needs them. The changes that Launch Housing brought to my life, I can’t even explain that. I want them to know they changed everything for me and my children.