Companion Stories: Elizabeth
"My business went rocky, then my rent increased by 40%. I could have just about held on for another few months but it wasn’t going to happen. My choice was to borrow money and go into debt or become homeless. I’m terribly bad at asking for help but I was absolutely determined that I wasn’t going to go into debt. Then I remembered a talk that I’d heard several years ago when Terry Waite, Emmaus UK President, spoke at a meeting to announce the plans for an Emmaus Community here in West Norwood. Later when the Emmaus shop opened, I used to come and buy a few things to support the homeless. I had no idea that I might need Emmaus myself.
I assumed that the Community would be full but thought they might know of other places they could refer me to so I spoke to the Community Leader and she said no the accommodation doesn’t open until 3 weeks time would you like to come and have a chat. That astonishment and total bewilderment just grew and grew as I sat and listened to what Emmaus was. I remember saying that I wanted the chance to contribute. It wasn’t just about getting a roof over my head.
I’ve always looked on this as a home first and foremost so I brought in plants and I chivvied for paintings on the walls. And I play a role here in nagging the Companions, making them look after themselves when they leave dirty stuff in the kitchen and also trying to get them to take better care of their health! And I get a billion per cent back, particularly the warmth. There’s an achievement factor in seeing that what you do makes a difference to someone else. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that I love doing.
I sum Emmaus up with the word ‘holistic’. There are so many pieces to looking after the individual, giving them self-esteem, giving them a safe mental and emotional space to have time out from thinking or worrying. My feeling for Emmaus has strengthened. It just started off as being some sort of rescue straw in the wind and now it’s a very firm plank, platform, even a staircase. It’s expanding and nourishing mentally and emotionally.
For the last 5 years my life had been a gradual downhill slide of the whole world saying we don’t want you. My business failing felt like a personal rejection, I’d lost my ex-partner and it was as though the whole world was turning against me. I felt very powerless and I anaesthetised myself with alcohol. I was getting through a couple of bottles of scotch a week right up until I came to Emmaus and then all of a sudden I stopped drinking. I just wasn’t interested. I didn’t need a bottle, I didn’t want a bottle because I came to Emmaus and somebody wanted me and somebody needed me. I’m proud of being a Companion. My business capsized but I found Emmaus. Not for one minute do I regret coming to Emmaus and being a Companion."
