I’m Maria and I don’t know where I would be today without Praxis, where my kids would be, and what I could become tomorrow without them.

We moved into Praxis accommodation and it really became like a second home for us. When we moved here we felt safe, comforted and protected.

We shared the house with other women and their children, we built relationships in many ways and when different cultures meet each other it becomes like a rainbow.

I feel that we are more than friends, we are like sisters, and our children are like siblings too, we see them grow, saying their first words and walking their first steps together.

My best memory was when I delivered one of the other women’s children – it was night, and the baby arrived quicker than the ambulance.

Before the baby was born I wasn’t very close with the mother, but now she is like my little sister – when her immigration case was resolved I was the first person she told.

Praxis has gone to great lengths to resolve my immigration case: while they gave me a home, they also did everything they could to solve my problems and support me.

I started having issues with my immigration status when I was 22. I’m growing older, but my problems haven’t gone away yet.

My hope is to finally get my papers, to work and get back to study to complete my education in business administration.