Woman marks first debt-free Christmas in 20 years

FOR the first time since she was married, more than 20 years ago, Sarah faces her first Christmas debt free.

Sarah married a man who “spent his money on drink and gambling”, leaving her with little or no money for their three children.

“My husband some weeks would say ‘I’ve no money for you’,” recalls Sarah.

She often had to walk with her children to her mother’s house to borrow some money, as she had no money even for the bus. Her husband also hit her and the children.

“I had a nervous breakdown, I just couldn’t cope,” she said.

Then one day, and she doesn’t remember how it happened, the people from St Vincent de Paul (SVP) knocked on her door.

“They were talking to me, seeing how stressed I was and asked me would I go and see a psychiatrist. So I did and was put on tablets for depression and anxiety.”

The people at SVP “could see the way I was being treated and they have been back ever since. They talk to me. I found there is someone there that will listen to you. All over the years, they come and see me”.

She said that initially she “didn’t even have a table and chairs” in the house. “They asked me would I mind and the first one I got was actually a school desk. I was ever so happy. I could sit down with my children and have dinner.”

She said they also got her a gas heater, got her food, bought school uniforms for the children and even gave her a holiday, her first ever.

But she wouldn’t hand over her bills to SVP. “You have to help yourself, before anyone else will help you, so I joined MABS [Money Advice and Budgeting Service] 10 years ago. They are brilliant. To this day I am still with them.”

Sarah said she had debts of thousands of euro, but not anymore: “For the first time since my children were children I am going to have a great Christmas because I am not in debt any more.”

She lives on single parent’s allowance of €225 per week. She has fought in the courts for more than 20 years to force her husband to pay maintenance to her children.

Sarah is “very proud” of her children. They are all working or in third-level education. “The thing about my children is they know how hard it was for me.”

* Contacts: SVP National Office: 01-8386990 or [e-mail]

MABS helpline 1890 283 438