Domestic Violence: One cause of homelessness...

There are often questions in the community around how someone becomes homeless. So many assumptions can be made with regard to people’s willingness to get a job, ability to stay in a relationship, their own doing leading to the downfall of their lives and the subsequent demand that society lift them back up.

But what we do not always consider is that homelessness is not a choice, it happens to someone. Mental illness is not a choice; a life of abuse and trauma leading to addictions as a means of survival is not a choice; grief and loss that devastate a soul is not a choice; fleeing domestic violence is not a choice.

Alberta is the domestic violence capital of Canada with 14,000 calls to police in Calgary last year and 16,000 in Edmonton, all as a result of domestic violence. Women and children often end up homeless if they want to stay safe, shelters are full to capacity in an attempt to help and families are challenged with family members couch surfing in their homes to stay alive.

The following is just one idea of what that first brave step can look like when a woman flees an abusive partner.

SHE
She silently watches, wary, alone.
Searching the darkness for that thing she called home.
Seeking that form once friend, now foe
She can not run, there is no place to go.

His breath was heavy, he waited, he stalked
Echoes of screams, where once they had talked.
“Silent”, she said. “Still!” she thought
If not then she would surely be caught.

The new little life, beating inside
Demanded her silent, demanded she hide.
“I cannot defend, I cannot flee
Please my mother, protect me!”

Her hand lay on the belly that grew;
“What kind of life am I giving you?
If I walk now, we both will die,
But never again will I have to cry!”

Again, the little life beating inside,
Demanded her silent, demanded she hide.
“I cannot defend, I cannot flee,
Please my mother, protect me!”
And so she stayed, her loyalties torn.
“If I face him you will not be born,
If I stay silent we both live a bit more,
We’ll have a tomorrow, but God what’s in store?”

And soon he was lying, snores telling of sleep.
And she rose on legs shaking, and began to creep.
Past his form, walking away as a wife
Carrying the only thing worth saving…This new little life.

She fled down the street, house dress and bare feet
She ran without thinking, echoing soles on concrete.
She entered the station, glaring lights, uniforms
She told of the beatings, the fear and the storms.

The officer listened, he cried and he said,
“If you hadn’t left, you both would be dead.
You have tonight, saved two lives, not one.
You brave, strong woman! Well done, well done!”

She again laid her hand on the belly that kept
Her new little baby, and silently she wept.
“We did it my darling, we’re safe, we are free.
I will always protect you my baby, trust me”.

Again the little life, beating inside
rejoiced the silence and the strength to hide.
“I could not defend, I could not flee
But my darling mother, you protected me.”