It has been a long journey for me from being homeless and with significant mental health problems to the much more positive and optimistic person I am today. Everything I have achieved over the last few years has been thanks to the dedicated care and support of staff at the Nishkam Civic Association.
I have always been a keen cricketer and played for my local cricket team, the Imran Tigers, for 8 years, so I know about resilience and hard work to achieve a goal. I arrived in this country from Pakistan in 1998 looking for new opportunities and to advance my career; but things quickly went badly for me.
Dark days of homelessness
I was struggling to find work and the cost of living in London was so high that soon I found myself homeless. I was struggling with my mental health and ended up at Victoria railway station where I was assessed at a police station and then put into a psychiatric hospital. I spent two and a half years in hospital and they were very dark days for me.
When I was well enough to leave hospital I was able to find work – as a part-time marketing assistant for a taxi company and working in a pharmacy. I was living in a bed and breakfast and was struggling to have enough money to eat and pay for basics. Always my attitude was positive and inside I knew I was ambitious to achieve more with my life – my experience with the Imran Tigers had taught me that.
Reaching crisis point
When I moved to Birmingham I was keen to start afresh. I was married by this time and my wife joined me from Pakistan – it felt a good time to move on to a new town. But I was still struggling with my mental health and had other health problems that prevented me from working, so I was claiming Personal Independent Payment (PIPs). Then suddenly my PIP benefit was stopped. That’s when I found myself in crisis. I couldn’t work and I didn’t have any financial support.
Our accommodation was very bad – it was damp and furniture was broken. We were living above a shop and sharing the flat with another family. The landlord was a heavy drinker and would hold noisy parties. There was absolutely no privacy – they could come up at any time. By then we had a young baby – our beautiful daughter. I wanted everything for her; for her to have a good home and a good environment to grow up in. I was in despair and didn’t know where to turn.
A warm welcome
That’s when I found out about Nishkam Civic Association and the service they offer. I went along to see them and I was welcomed like a brother. It is the first time that someone had really listened to me – and believed in me. They listened to my story and started the process to reclaim my PIP benefit. They gathered all the evidence I needed – they reached out to my doctors, psychiatrists, pulled together my full medical history and asked about my current health. Most important of all – they trusted me and valued my opinion. The whole process took almost 14 months – they managed the appeal and ended up challenging the Department for Work and Pensions in the court – but in the end it was such a relief when my benefits were restarted. Throughout the whole process they were always there to support me emotionally and motivated me. They said: don’t give up, we are with you.
A life transformed
Nishkam also supported me and my family to find better accommodation. They put us on a list for a council house and in the end, after around three years, we moved into our two-bedroom house. The moment I walked into our new home was a turning point for me. Immediately I started to relax mentally knowing that my wife and daughter had a good environment around us.
It was at that point that I was determined to further my education to help me in my career. I am just entering my final year of a Bsc Hons in Business and Tourism with Canterbury Christ Church, based in Birmingham in association with Global Banking School. My wife is also studying in health and social care. My life has been transformed since I first visited the Nishkam Centre. My daughter is in a good environment and is doing well at school. I am full of ideas for next steps for my career. My dream is to start an online company selling toys and have already made some good connections with manufacturers to make that happen.
I want to thank everyone at the Nishkam Civic Association for the fantastic support they gave me. Everyone at the centre is so dedicated to their mission to help others with the challenges they face. They work with real humanity and care for their local community. Most importantly they believed in me; and helped me to regain my belief in myself.
