The long way out of the women's shelter

When we enter the flat in a block of flats in the south of the country, it smells like freshly prepared food. "I have meat in the oven, " Emilia (name changed by the editors) answers us with a shy smile. After a short tour of the flat – kitchen, bathroom, three bedrooms – we sit down at the large table in the living room and are joined by a social worker who is with as at Emilia's request.

Emilia has been in Luxembourg since 2009, she says. She comes from a country in the Cape Verde region. At some point, the problems in her marriage began to get out of hand. She does not want to tell what exactly happened, probably because it would retraumatise her too much. Several times the police were called, several times her family persuaded her to stay again. "At some point, I had gathered all my courage and contacted a social worker." After Emilia receives the lists of women's shelters, she gets on the waiting lists. During that time, she and her children had to stay with her husband. In August 2019, the time finally comes. "I only packed one suitcase, very discreetly, so that my husband didn't notice anything. I didn't take the children to school. I said they were sick."

Saying goodbye

She spends over two years in the women's shelter. "It was hard, but better, " she says looking back. "I had it good there. I could switch off and forget. I made new friends and had my mothers around me." "Mothers" is what Emilia calls the social workers at Maison Paula Bové – including the one sitting at the table. It is impossible not to notice how familiar they are with each other. Later, Emilia even invites her to stay for lunch. The social worker confirms that Emilia cried a lot during her time in the women's shelter. "I often felt lost, " says the mother of three herself. Tears run down her face, her "mother" can't help crying too.

For Emilia, the last moments in the women's shelter were very difficult. When the van in which she was to pack her belongings drove up on the day in question, she "cried so much". Her eyes fill with tears again, her cheeks become wet. She speaks of "quite a few emotions" that overtook her at that moment. The women's shelter had given her hope again after her terrible experiences; for months it had been a safe place for her. "I learned so much at the shelter. We were like sisters. When someone wasn't doing well, you were there for each other and tried to build each other up." Although it was hard for Emilia to say goodbye, she says it was her big dream to move into her own home.