Nadege and Sabrina: A Success Story
One of the first cases that Rediscovery’s YouthHarbors program took in October 2009 was Nadege and Sabrina, two friends who were helping each other survive being homeless in high school. Nadege had first become homeless in 2006 when her father moved away after divorcing his second wife. She was briefly allowed to live with her stepmother, but was later kicked out of the house. Since then she has been couch surfing wherever she could find space to sleep for the night. About a year ago she started helping her best friend Sabrina also find a place to sleep after she was kicked out by her sister’s boyfriend from the apartment she had shared with her sister.
At the time YouthHarbors staff met the two girls they were living with a friend in Framingham. They woke up every day at 4 AM to take the commuter rail and then the T to Malden High School. They took a full junior year course load and would then take a bus to Medford where they had found jobs at a nursing home. After finishing work they would once again get on a commuter rail train to Framingham, arriving at their friend’s house at midnight. With only four hours of sleep a night and stressed by not having a permanent place to live both girls’ grades were slipping and they were having trouble making it to school on time. Sabrina said that being homeless “made me sad and feel lonely. And I missed my family.”
When their guidance counselor heard about YouthHarbors starting at Malden High she immediately referred the girls to the program. With the help of YouthHarbors’ Outreach worker they were able to find an apartment to share in Malden within walking distance of the high school and get back on track in school and life. Recently, Nadege and Sabrina have both been able to leave the program. Sabrina is back with her sister, who no longer has the same boyfriend, and is planning to study to become a Certified Nurses Assistant next year in addition to graduating high school. Nadege is living temporarily with a family member while she waits to hear that she is eligible for long-term subsidized housing. She recently heard that the wait should be short. She is looking forward to graduating high school and wants to be a nurse when she grows up.
Board of Directors
Arden O’Connor, Chair
Elizabeth Pattullo, Treasurer
Tripp Jones
Paul
McNamara
Matt O’Connor
Scott Simpson
Paula Stahl
