Ten years ago, Olga was happy: work, home, loving husband. Olga’s husband herded cattle and liked to drink after work. At first, she did not consider it a big problem, but over the years his addiction progressed. And when the couple had a child, Olga’s husband was convicted of hooliganism. The woman was left almost completely alone, with a baby in her arms.
When the husband returned from prison, they decided to start life anew. The husband had just received a lucrative job offer in another city – the couple was happy to take advantage of it. But upon arrival at the new place, they realized that they had ended up in slavery: the “employer” placed them in a small village far from the regional center, deprived them of money and forced them to do hard physical labor. The payment for the work was food, often quite meager, and when they tried to leave, the owners beat them.
Six months later, Olga and her son managed to escape slavery and found themselves in Temirtau, completely penniless. For a while, they managed to stay in a crisis center, but what to do next? Olga had no idea.
The Center for Support of Children and Families came to the aid of the family. Its specialists helped Olga find a job and permanent housing – a room in a social hostel, which she rents with her friend and her son. Thanks to the Center’s support, Olga joined the queue for state social housing and filed a claim for alimony from her now ex-husband. And her son began to talk, stopped being afraid of people and went to first grade – a psychologist and speech therapist from the Center helped him with this.
Olga is no longer afraid of tomorrow: now she is confident in her strength and resources, and can take care of herself and her child.