Mulheim.
She worked to keep herself and her three children afloat – until she collapsed. Now the 54-year-old from Mülheim is getting help.
She is in her early 50s but can no longer work. Not only her body is on strike, but above all her soul. The circumstances have worn her down, the system, as the woman from Mülheim calls the hurdles she has been working through for decades, as a single parent of three sons, money is more than tight. Readers who have donated to the Jolanthe campaign are now helping the mother of three.
She still remembers exactly how she got her bed. It was advertised under the heading “For Giving Away”. “The bed belonged to an elderly lady who had died. We could get it for free when we picked it up,” Yeliz K. recalls. That must have been around 20 years ago. “My boys were still quite small,” says the 54-year-old. Today her three sons are grown, the two youngest, 25 and 27 years old, still live with her.
No money for vans: mother and children carry used bed through Mülheim
At that time, all three had to lend a hand to pick up the new bed for their mother. “Because I didn’t have any money to rent a van, we carried it from one side of Styrum to the other,” says Yeliz K.. Today she has to smile at the thought of it, but back then she was anything but in the mood for laughing. “We went very slowly so that the boys could do it too.” So that’s how long she’s been sleeping in the used bed for around 20 years. “At some point the slatted frame fell down, we temporarily repaired it,” says the Mülheim resident, who lives on a disability pension. The bones and the osteoporosis bother her, but above all her psyche.
Gabi Spitmann, the counselor at the Mülheim unemployment center (Malz) knows about the burdens that weigh on single mothers. For around 20 years, the Styrum native has been going to the advice center when the money is not enough despite the job. “She really accepted any job, but it was never enough, she had to top up with benefits from the office. At some point she was so mentally devastated that she needed medical help,” says Spitmann, who supports her clients well beyond the application for social benefits.
The single parent experiences prejudice and racism – from authorities and employers
Yeliz K., a petite woman with dark hair and bright eyes, had already had an odyssey through the authorities that was wearing her down: “I was afraid of saying something wrong and being left with the children without money.” So she bites them Teeth together, even if the person behind the desk treats her with anything but respect. She was confronted with prejudice and racism – in offices and changing employers.
She only wanted one thing: that her sons have it good. “You shouldn’t be teased,” emphasizes the single parent, so she does without – for example on a new bed. Almost apologetically, she says: “I’m not someone who throws things away quickly. When the frame didn’t want to hold up any longer, I put boxes and books under it.” That’s over now: Yeliz K. gets money for a new bed from the donations that warm-hearted Mülheim residents gave for this year’s Jolanthe campaign .
needy We want to help the residents of Mülheim with this year’s Jolanthe charity campaign. The proceeds from this benefit, in cooperation with the Mülheim unemployment center (Malz), people who are receiving advice from Malz and whose need for help is known. Our Jolanthe account: DE05 3625 0000 0175 0342 77, Sparkasse Mülheim. To all donors, Thank you very much for those who have already taken part in our campaign. We report successively about fellow human beings who benefit from the Jolanthe donations.
More articles from this category can be found here: Mülheim
