Be safe, my new friend.

A woman came to the shelter overnight from the hospital. A domestic violence victim. And she didn’t speak English–she spoke Assyrian. They were planning to put her in a cab and send her to the homeless services office. I told them to check with whoever is on-call because the office isn’t open that early. Well, they got the ok and someone would be there to open early. I couldn’t let this woman take the cab alone, not speaking English, so I said that I would go with her. And good thing I did!!! Dispatch didn’t tell the driver an address, he asked about payment, directions to the building (which side of the road, etc). Anyway, my heart goes out to her. Her face was quite bruised. We got the office and the caseworker who was there didn’t even know about her or that she was coming, so I had to tell him the story. If this woman had gone alone, what would have happened?! Thank God I went with her! I had an appointment to go to in the city so I hated to leave her at the services office. I tried to explain to her the best I could, and gave her a hug–which she gladly and emotionally returned, with a kiss. I could see she was unhappy and scared that I had to leave. She affected me. Not a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) trigger. Just one of those very sad things but happy that she is getting help and I was able to be one of the people to help her. I have thought about her throughout the day, wondering what happened. I assume that she was taken to a safe house for domestic violence victims and will no longer be at the shelters with us. I do hope she remains ok. I wish I knew.

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