Life During a Pandemic
Neary is a human trafficking survivor and our Hagar staff has been walking the recovery journey with her for approximately 7 months.
She has been working in a garment factory to survive and support her family. However, the recent pandemic with COVID-19 has recently presented many challenges for her. Due to the virus, her hours were reduced at work and she moved from working full time to part time. This made things very difficult in terms of supporting her family and the stress of not being able to adequately provide for loved ones and pay off her debt was leaving her feeling depressed and exhausted.
Hagar’s staff has been checking in on their clients, both current and former, during this time to see how they are doing through the pandemic. Seeing Neary’s situation, the Hagar team conducted a re-assessment with her and her family to determine her needs and what Hagar could do to support her and her family during this challenging time. As a result, Hagar is now providing support for Neary and her family through a monthly package of emergency food relief, including rice and groceries. Our counselling team helps Neary with self-care activities such as deep breathing, relaxation techniques and counselling sessions.
Neary and her family now feel a big relief after this help and are happy that they can continue to live through the support of the emergency relief food package and the emotional support from Hagar.
Neary said:
“I am so happy for Hagar supporting me and for being with me and my family during this difficult situation. I did not even have enough food to eat. I am really thankful for Hagar’s support.”
Together, with our donors, we have been able to not just continue to help Neary in overcoming the trauma of her past, but, also practically support her and her family at this time. Such support has made such a difference to her and her family and truly helped them survive in this season.
