of finding a new place
As described in my previous post (Emma’s story), Ate Emma and her husband Kuya Migs together with their four children had to leave their small house because they haven’t been able to pay the rent for seven months. The landlord cut off the water and electricity in order to make them leave soon and to avoid further costs he would have to bear on his own.
Ate Emma walked around our neighborhood looking for a new place. Some areas she felt uncomfortable with because of the many drunken men hanging around. She is concerned about the safety of her daughter who’s becoming a young woman. After some days, the only place she had found was a smaller house than before with the same rent (80$), high electricity costs and more expensive water. The only benefit would have been to get rid of the debts at the former place. After she’d showed me the place, I asked her to keep looking for another possibility. A neighbor knew about a place a bit further away. We went there. It was about the same size, only 56$, with cheaper water and electricity. The roof was leaking. Nevertheless, we paid the down payment of a two-month rent immediately – first come, first served. The next day, Ate Emma came to my place again. Someone told the landlord that they haven’t paid the rent at their previous place for months. So, he gave the two rooms to someone else and the down payment back to her.
Ate Emma found a place near the market. It was about 60$ a month. To be close to the market could make it easier to earn a living. I saw some advantage in this house. After three days, Ate Emma visited us again. They needed to bring two valid IDs both she and her husband; something they don’t have. To get these, it would have taken them 20$ extra plus some hours waiting in offices.
Finally, they were able to move into a new house for 50$ a month which is only one small room. But Ate Emma seems to have found a new perspective for her life. Tomorrow, she wants to start a small new business. While I was co-journeying with Ate Emma on her odyssey, I realized that being poor means to face so many barriers and obstacles we Westerners usually don’t have and don’t perceive at all. On a walk on our street, I suddenly saw the ruins of two huts for a total of five or six families. I didn’t know the families there well. I just knew they were renters, had little income. I asked someone what will be built there. “A parking space,” was the answer. – “And where have the families gone?” – “Somewhere else.”
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