©InfoNadia is a single mother from the Roma community. Barely able to support her five children, she moved from Romania to Birmingham in hope of a better life. However, when the Red Cross Circles project first met Nadia she was still living in extreme poverty, with no one to help her and no way to return home.
Alongside our work with refugees and asylum seekers, in some areas the Red Cross offers support services to other vulnerable migrants who, for a variety of reasons, have found themselves in difficulty while in the UK.
Nadia and her children – who are aged between two and 16 – lived in a tiny flat accessed by two flights of rail-free steps and a broken gangplank. The family all slept in the same room, while the one other room functioned as a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Although it was midwinter, they had no heating.
Nadia had been scraping by on family tax credits, until one day she received a call from the benefits agency. She says: “Because we couldn’t understand each other they just stopped the benefits. They didn’t give me any kind of explanation.” For a while, Nadia and her family lived off donations of flour given to her by the church.
Hard at work
After the benefits were stopped, Nadia went out “not begging, not stealing, but trying to make some money in order to feed my children”.
Then Nadia found out about the Big Issue. She said: “I’ve been told you can support yourself a little bit doing this, but I was so ashamed – I didn’t know how to sell it. Police came and asked me: ‘Why are you standing there? What are you doing?’ They took me to a job centre, but because I didn’t speak the language it was very difficult for us to understand each other.”
Being a migrant made life very hard for Nadia. She says: “Being from another country – and especially from Romania – people looked at me differently, and were not very willing to help me or to give me what I was asking for. I was so ashamed and I felt so down sometimes.”
Nowhere to go
Nadia was at rock bottom. She says: “I didn’t know where to go or what to do to support my children. I had no money to go back to Romania. I didn’t speak English or know who to talk with. I was deceived by so many people trying to lend me money with a big interest rate.”
Nadia’s voice breaks as she recalls walking with her oldest son: “He was telling me ‘I’m hungry’. It was winter, the snow was big and thick, and where he could find clean snow, he was eating it.”
Finally, someone suggested that Nadia contact the Red Cross Circles project. She was initially sceptical, but found that the Red Cross could give her food parcels, nappies and electricity tokens. A Circles case worker then helped Nadia to apply for benefits, schools and a doctor. She says: “It was too much what they offered. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t think somebody could do that for me.”
Looking up
Now, with the help of the Red Cross, Nadia’s situation has improved. She rubs away tears as she says: “They helped me very much, with basically everything. My kids are going to school now; I have food on the table; I have a house; I have everything because of them.”
In school, her son initially faced problems with discrimination. Now however, her son is also doing well: “Yesterday I was at the award gala at the school and my oldest son received an award. I was the proudest mother ever.”
The family is finally able to have a normal life. Nadia says: “Now I can feel proud of going into parks or walking with my children on the street, and being able to buy what they need. So I am forever grateful.”
Giving something back
Nadia is progressing well in her Red Cross English classes and will soon become treasurer of Birmingham’s Roma community forum. She has also been invited by the Red Cross to run a Roma women’s group, helping other single mothers and young women.
Mick Quigley, a Circles project case worker, explains: “We want Nadia to show other women in the community that you can have a voice and you can do things. Because within the Roma community women don’t really have a voice.”
Nadia eagerly accepted the role, keen to stay involved with the Circles project and help other Roma women. Of the Circles staff she says: “They are like my second family and I trust more than anything. I do not have enough words to thank them. I even introduced them to my family in Romania, I told my family about them and how great they are, how big their hearts and souls are.”
Become a health and social care volunteer
Read the stories of Luminita and Roxanna, who were also helped by the Circles project