Family challenge: Glory Uhunarabona with children Courage, 17, Wisdom, 12, Faith, seven, and Blessing, 11.
(Picture: EC Composite)For Glory Uhunarabona, the thought of Christmas is not a happy one. The single mother of four has had to cancel her children’s swimming lessons and seek help buying school uniforms and food because money is so tight.
The 44-year-old said: “I am panicking because the finances are not there.”
A short walk from Glory’s home in Bermondsey is the Salmon Youth Centre which helps 500 children from disadvantaged backgrounds every week and has provided a lifeline for her family over 10 years.
The centre is one of the community organisations that will be eligible to benefit from our On the Breadline Christmas appeal via our partnership with The Childhood Trust, which funds groups helping disadvantaged children in London.
For just 50p each, Glory’s children, aged seven, 11, 12 and 17, are able to eat a hot meal after school and take part in activities, including rock climbing, basketball, art and trampolining — things otherwise out of reach.
Glory, who works part time as a school kitchen assistant, was forced to spend almost a year sleeping in her living room with her four children because of problems with mould and leaks. She says the centre is a refuge.
Another mother, Samantha (not her real name), said that without the centre, her children would be at risk of gangs. She has started using a foodbank and to make ends meet she has had to stop her four children, aged three to 12, from playing computer games and watching TV to save electricity.
The hall light, which used to be kept on all night, is now kept off — and the children no longer change into clean clothes after school every day, to cut back on washing.
“Even the price of paracetamol has gone up” she said: “I told my children no one is allowed to be sick in this house. The children are only allowed to do their homework on the computer and not play games. I showed them the bills and now they understand. My son is careful and tells his siblings. But they are kids and shouldn’t be worrying about bills.”
The 48-year-old single mother said she used to pay £1,000 for electricity and gas but now the bill is £2,800. “I am scared to do the latest meter reading,” Samantha said. She previously worked in a bank but was forced to leave due to ill health. The family has around £300 a week to live on.
Samantha added: “I have no money to buy presents. It is worse than last year. Last week my daughter was crying for two hours. She said, ‘we are broke, look where we are living, you can’t even afford to buy me a doll’. I told her, ‘we are broke now, but it doesn’t mean we will be broke forever’.”
The children who attend Salmon Youth Centre are offered top class facilities. The building houses a full-size basketball court, a climbing wall with views of the Shard, a dance studio and a warren of rooms where children have art lessons, tutoring, counselling, do homework, play pool or just relax with friends. Fresh hot food is cooked on the premises.
But it goes beyond after-school activities — the centre helps families who need food or have housing problems and they organise Christmas presents for youngsters who would otherwise have none.
Children pay 50p to attend and sometimes youngsters come in with handfuls of coins to make up the entrance fee.
Sam Adofo, director of the centre, said that if staff see someone struggling to pay, they create an instant prize, such as “member of the month” so they can come in free. “I recently went to the door and saw a mother counting out 50p in pennies. You know things are not good when you see that.”
