Charlotte Emergency Housing

Not long ago, Marie learned a painful truth. “The people you see walking down the street, dressed nicely, they can be homeless,” she says.” I didn’t know that.”

She became one of those people. Three years ago, with nowhere else to turn, Marie and her family moved into Charlotte Emergency Housing. “I was going to work every day, but nobody knew I was here. Nobody knew at church. I didn’t want friends to know. It was hard for my son and daughter who were in college,” she says, as a tear slips down her cheek. “Their mother was in a shelter.”

Today Marie lives in a small, red-brick house in east Charlotte. Framed photographs of her four children decorate the bookshelves. A feisty terrier struts around the living room. Marie’s soft voice, which still carries the accent of her native Congo, grows even softer as she recounts the difficult times she’s been through.

Marie left Africa for New Jersey at age 25, when her husband’s employer transferred him there. She learned English and adjusted to life in America. They started a family and moved to Charlotte. But a decade later, when her husband was transferred back to Africa, life became much harder.

Marie stayed in Charlotte with the children. Her husband traveled back and forth, his absences growing steadily longer. In 2004 he was laid off, and his presence in their lives became even more erratic.

“I was the only one working,” she says. “I had to pay for everything.” From overseas, he drained their joint checking account. He said he’d send money for the children but never did. “He kept giving us promise after promise,” Marie says. “It didn’t come to pass.” At one point, he asked Marie to send him $500 quickly so that he could open a training school. He promised to return the money in two weeks. Her daughter in college urged her not to do it. “But I thought, if everything goes well, maybe he is going to help us.”

He didn’t – and he never returned the money. Marie couldn’t pay rent, and she and the children were evicted. They found temporary shelter with a niece. But Marie’s husband’s comings and goings continued to disrupt their lives. Three years ago, Marie and her children ended up at CEH.

“That was hard,” says Shana, her youngest daughter, who was in middle school. “The bus stop was right in front of the shelter. I was embarrassed about that.” But she came to like the comfort and support that CEH provided. When her elder brother left for college, CEH helped him buy books and supplies. The children got Christmas gifts.

“Charlotte Emergency Housing helped a lot,” Marie says. “If it were not for CEH, I don’t know what would have happened.” Now she’s on her own and has worked two years at a bakery. It’s still a struggle. Her eldest son is back home. Concerned about the family’s problems, he let his college grades slip and lost his scholarship. But he’s working to earn money to return to school. Marie and her children are focused and optimistic.

As a high school junior, Shana finished a bank internship in which she interviewed families living in shelters and presented her findings. These days, homelessness is just a subject she studies, but Shana – who dreams of being a pediatrician — will never forget her family’s experience. “I don’t feel bad about it anymore,” she says. “It’s over now, and I’m trying to do bigger and better things.”