Hello, dear friends!
Here is the story of a single mother of three children who lives in South Estonia. While she is raising her kids alone, she must also fight bureaucracy, creditors and her ex-partner, who ended their relationship and threw the family out on the street, because he found a younger wife. Tiina had been building up her family life and home for many years: she had taken out loans from the bank in her name, in the hope of securing a loving family life and bright future. Suddenly, it was all gone – and she found herself and her children without shelter. Her ex-partner did not provide them with money to get by, neither did he buy any medication or clothes for them. The young woman had to get through this tough time all by herself. The situation was even more complicated by the fact that she was unemployed at the time and her medical treatments were not yet finished. She was not officially married to her ex-partner. Now that Tiina has recovered her health and found both a new rental apartment and employment, her ex-partner is terrorizing her with mental violence, constantly threatening to take the children away from her. We felt strong empathy for Tiina’s difficult situation, and we wish to help her solve these issues in any way we can.
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Tiina lost her job and had trouble finding a new one. She also suffered from severe depression. With the help of doctors, she was able to fight and overcome this illness.
When the pandemic was over, Tiina found employment that suited her qualifications, but only as a part-time job. In order to make ends meet, she used up all possible temporary remedies (credit cards, Coop credit programs, loans from acquaintances). The loans kept adding up. In addition to this, Tiina has to take into account that she has a child at home who has autism and an ADHD diagnosis. Before she is able to find a care worker for her child, Tiina cannot leave the child alone at home.
Because of the loss of employment and falling ill, Tiina is unable to pay back the loans and installment payments. Currently, she is over 5000 euros in dept. Tiina has no options to find this money, because she and her children depend mostly on childcare financial assistance from the state government. The municipal government supports Tiina with a minimal payment. Thanks to this, she is at least able to pay the utility and electricity bills. Because of her difficult financial situation, the county officials decided to help her with paying for the kindergarten admittance.
„This is not enough to overcome our troubles. This whole situation has become too difficult. I am unable to sleep at night. I am constantly in fear because the future is so uncertain. How can we get through this? My child has been diagnosed with autism, so we must organize our daily schedule by the minute. This demands a very high level of discipline and patience.“
We contacted the social worker of the county once again. They are very helpful and will help the family as much as they can. Our lawyer is giving Tiina dept consultation. We are also looking for opportunities to cooperate with the Food Bank.
Tiina and her children need help with buying vegetables. Her children also need new clothes, as they are growing fast and their mother is unable to buy these at the moment.
Dear friends, let’s work together and help Tiina and her children. If you can donate financially, it will go towards helping her pay back the dept. If you can help the family with buying food and clothes, it will also be greatly appreciated.
If you would like to, you can contact the project manager Heiki by phone +37256255274 or email heiki@naerataometi.ee.
