The new Evangel Hall building does more than offer shelter for Toronto's less fortunate. It offers safety, respect and a place to call home. At the grand opening celebration on October 19, those gathered listened to Khatija Tammi, a woman with two young children who fled her abusive husband. She told the crowd that being homeless was the most difficult for her eight-year-old son, Shawn.
“A home is more than a shelter at night,” said Tammi, who came to Canada from Kenya in 1991, “it is part of your identity. For my son, the knowledge that we had no home to call our own was devastating. He didn't dream about being a fireman or police officer when he grew up. He just wanted a home.”
Shawn's grades soon began to drop. He lost his friends. Already having to change schools after fleeing his father, he feared he would be bounced around continually.
“After a while, he was so desperate that Shawn asked if we could live with daddy again because daddy has the house,” said Tammi, who was pregnant with her second son, Keith, when she left her husband. “He wanted his own home so much that he wanted to move back in with a father who scared him.”
The family had been living with Tammi's mother in a tiny apartment for several months. But the cramped quarters (Tammi and her two boys were squished into one bedroom) motivated her to find something else. When she heard about the new Evangel Hall residence, she submitted an application. They moved in last April, and are enjoying their two-bedroom apartment.
“I had started to lose hope, believing I would never get our family on its feet,” she said, recalling how she felt before the move. “Now, with the encouragement of the staff of Evangel Hall, I have a new hope for the future.”
She now volunteers at the centre, visits the drop-in program there, and will be going back to school for her high school equivalency.
“Shawn loves our new home so much that he says Evangel Hall is his home and he never wants to leave,” said Tammi, smiling. “His grades are up and so are his hopes for the future.”
