The food bank helps depressed Femi as he recovers from a suicide bid

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As soon as I met Femi (not his real name) at this London food bank, I felt I knew him already. It turned out that as soon as he started talking I realised that I’d met his wife some months ago. Her story is here. Elizabeth (not her real name) came into the food bank for support after her husband had tried to hang himself and had become an inpatient at the local mental health trust.

As soon as he began to tell me that he was from Nigeria, had three young children (aged 8, 6 and 11 months) and started studying accountancy in London before he ran into difficulties, I’d a strong feeling I’d been talking to his wife. The lovely Elizabeth had made a deep impression on me as she described how her family’s life had got so hard. She said she’d just about managed to stop her husband as he had tried to hang himself at home in September, and of how her young daughter (of 8) had to run and get a knife to help cut her husband down in time.

What drove Femi, 34, who came here in 2008 to study, to the brink of suicide? He told me he had been working in banking back in Nigeria and came to England in search of a better life for himself and his family. Initially he arrived on his own to start studying for his ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exams. “The UK was like a dreamland to me. My dad came here in 1975 and he told me many things about it. I lost my mum (in Nigeria) 30 years ago, so I had to grow up very quickly. I left home when I was 12.” When he was growing up in Nigeria he had to spend a lot of time fending for himself. He put much of his own savings into paying for his studies in London, with some support from his father in Nigeria. I also remembered that Elizabeth said her husband had worked when he could while he was studying.

But by 2010, things were getting tough. His wife joined him, but noticed that he was struggling with things like brushing his teeth and keeping clean. “I went to the GP and was diagnosed with depression. I was so ashamed.” He says that there’s a massive stigma in Nigeria about having depression, so he didn’t think he could share his feelings with what remains of his family back in Africa. Despite all, he still managed to pass the exams before he had to leave his course without completing it. “I keep my results on a piece of paper in my pocket, just to remind me of what I’ve done.”

The biggest blow of all came on September 17 last year, when the outcome of his immigration appeal came through. He had spent all his money – and received some financial help from friends – to fund an appeal on health grounds against the decision by the Home Office to refuse his immigration application. The process cost £3,000, to include the costs of the tribunal, £1,400 to the Home Office and £1,340 to the solicitor who took on his case. The news was the trigger for the already depressed Femi to carry out his suicide attempt. “I tried to commit suicide in the middle of the night. My daughter saw me.”

Femi sees the judge’s appeal decision as deeply unfair: “The judge said I should not be treated here. I said that I did not come here with depression. I worked in banking before I came to England. I took the UK as my home.” He even managed to donate £15 to charity every month for a while when he was working. He now has no money to fall back on, and he and his family are facing eviction from his privately-rented house.

He has nothing but praise for the social worker involved with the family, and he’s also receiving intensive treatment three days a week from the local mental health trust. The family has had some emergency payments from the council (which I’ve noticed tries so much harder than the other council on our doorstep to help the vulnerable when it can), but the money has to cover everything and there’s not often enough to buy adequate food. There have been times when the children didn’t have anything to eat. So the social worker has given the family the occasional voucher for the food bank. The family really needs this extra support, but the food bank can’t ever be more than a stop gap to cover an immediate crisis.

The couple only realised recently that Elizabeth is pregnant again – she had been taking contraceptives so this came as a great shock – with the new baby due in May. Femi is once again appealing the decision to refuse his immigration application on health grounds, and the hearing is due at the end of this month. The council is looking at how the family might be rehoused, but of course there are no guarantees of anything. He’s still crying every day, he tells me…

He went home last night with some food for his children, and that, at least is a small comfort.

Wish him well.

Bedroom tax drives John to food bank

The bedroom tax, if it has its way, is set to destroy John’s life. This is a man who really deserves a break. He brought up his two youngest children on his own since they were 12. He also has a head injury and has been on employment support allowance (ESA). He also receives Disability Living Allowance at the lowest rate. He’s not allowed to use a cooker because of his head injury, so his kind neighbour cooks the occasional meal for him. She also does his shopping.

John, 56, can’t afford a landline or a mobile, but his neighbour lets him make calls on her phone as necessary. She’s his key support in life, but the bedroom tax looks like it will force him to move away from her and to leave the home he’s lived in for 25 years. John’s kids have left home now, and he’s now faced with paying £44 a fortnight in bedroom tax, including arrears. He’s also being asked to pay £16 a fortnight in water rates. Out of his ESA he also has to pay council tax, gas, and electricity bills. ‘The bedroom tax has really clobbered me. The budget that’s been hit is the one for food. The money I was using for food now has to go on bedroom tax,’ says John. So he’s been forced to come to this London Trussell Trust food bank for help.

He’s applied for a discretionary housing payment (DHP). Each local council is given a pot of money to help those on housing benefit who are having trouble paying their rent. John says councils are not flagging up the existence of DHPs.

But something wonderful just may be on the horizon…. Could the bedroom tax be dead? According to @SPeyeJoe who blogs at Welfarewrites, the bedroom tax is, like the dead parrot, ‘over, defunct, brown bread, deceased, late…..’. In his excellent blog, he says that a recent ‘hugely significant’ appeal win in South Wales appears to be the ‘first known judgment to use the Bolton definition of “bedroom” to mean a room needs to be used or furnished as a bedroom to be a bedroom’. Welfarewrites says that what also follows from this is that ‘your local council needs to know that a room in your property is used as or furnished as a bedroom and they can only do this by coming out to inspect’. He also points out that ‘no council has the time or the resources to go out and inspect every one of the properties that are bedroom tax affected’.

He concludes that ‘every single bedroom tax household can and should appeal their bedroom tax decision made for the 2013/14 financial year as there is no way that their council could have known that rooms in their properties were used as or furnished as a bedroom’.

I’ll be passing this information back to John. Thank you for your hard work, Welfarewrites.

Mark left the food bank today with…boots

Mark and his new(ish) boots
Mark and his new(ish) boots
Mark, who visited the food bank last week, called into this London Trussell Trust food bank today – and walked out with new boots!

Apparently, word got round to one of the volunteers at another food bank in the borough that his only pair of shoes were falling apart. So she kindly brought in a pair of size nines from home. She also gave him two great jackets.

The 29-year-old, who has a dry way with him, told me: “I’m only saying this because there’s no men here. I’m giddy with excitement.” I could tell he was fairly pleased, though. Happy weekend, all.