I first came to Emmaus in 2019 in late September and at first, I lived in Emmaus Colchester for two years. I have now been living at Emmaus Norfolk & Waveney for just over a year.
Before arriving at Emmaus, I was living in Norwich for about 5 years. I had been working odd jobs in a seafood restaurant and I had a job in a bleach factory which was about as fun as you could imagine.
I became homeless when I got into a bad situation with rent arrears, and I struggled to keep up with payments and I was evicted. After that I bounced around a bit, I was feeling very low and self-pitying at this time. I stayed with my cousin for a while and then with a friend in Cambridge for a few days.
I remember being sat on a train back to Essex after being in Cambridge and I felt an existential dread that I’d never felt before. I just had no idea where I was going next. I thought if I don’t figure something out soon, I’m going to end up on the street. Luckily, I had a bit of money and luckily, I never had to spend the night sleeping rough.
I had no idea what Emmaus was until my friend found the website. She thought I should stop wallowing and applied for me.
When I first moved in to Emmaus it took a while to realise, okay I’m here now and I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to end up. My primary thought was well at least I don’t have to sleep on a park bench.
Going to Colchester was really good at the time for me, I had nowhere else to go and nowhere else to be. But after a while, I felt like I wanted to move on, and I wanted a fresh start. I’m from Norfolk so I wanted to be able to come back here to be closer to family.
Adjusting to coming to Emmaus Norfolk was a bit tough, I had got used to being in Colchester, but I soon got settled in. Being here feels more like home to me and I like that I can have my own space more. I love that I can step outside and be straight in nature.
I’ve been with Emmaus for the best part of 3 years now and I like that there’s always someone around, I’m within arm’s reach of people and I can talk to people if I want to.
When you’re dealing with life stuff, if it’s things you can deal with yourself being in the community really helps. There’s always someone to chat to about it and talking helps.
In the community you don’t even have to say anything, people know you so well and they know you might need a chat or you’re having a hard day.
With the support team it feels like we, the companions are always the priority. In general, I’m very happy here. I live a quiet life and that’s how I like it.
Emmaus is a good way of getting back on your feet for someone who’s in my position. It helps you get back into a routine and reset after being stressed. After the first month when I moved to Emmaus I just thought okay, I can calm down now and I worked on trying to get back to my old self. I don’t think I’ll ever be back to myself before I was homeless but I’m a lot closer now.
Attending the Emmaus International World Assembly:
Earlier this year I was told by the staff here & Cecile our CEO that there was an opportunity for me to go to the Emmaus World Assembly in Uruguay. I was really lucky to be chosen and I went with Amanda, one of our Trustees. The whole experience was life-enriching. I’d been abroad before the trip but never out of Europe. Visiting Uruguay was a big culture shock, the differences between the rich and poor areas were vast.
It was great meeting people from all over the world, I met Spanish, Swedish, Finnish & Brazilian people. Luckily, we had translators, I’m from Norfolk, and I can’t speak Spanish!
Throughout the Assembly, there were lots of workshops & talks about the history of the Emmaus movement. We voted on lots of things while we were out there, a lot of it focused on how we can all share our ideas more across the world. In one of the workshops, I came up with the idea that new CEOs and Managers that come into Emmaus should be partnered up with a staff member who has been at Emmaus for a while. I thought that would help people to get a deeper understanding of what happens, I was really pleased that got brought up in the wider forum too.
My main takeaways from the Assembly were how different Emmaus is run in the UK and how it’s run internationally. Back when Emmaus was founded there was one unified goal and obviously, as it grew larger, that mission has adapted to each country, so it was really good to feel connected with everyone’s work.