- [Interviewer] Cecilia and Juliana,
did I get that right?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] Yeahhh.
What a great smile.
You're homeless. - Yes.
- [Interviewer] And you've been homeless two years.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] You're a single mom, homeless.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] What's that like?
- A learning experience.
- [Interviewer] In what way?
- In downfalls-wise.
(laughs)
- [Interviewer] You didn't expect to be here.
- I didn't expect to be here.
But I'm trying to climb the ladder.
It takes a little longer on my side
'cause there's no resources to help me
get into a home at this point.
I have another son, also.
- [Interviewer] And so how do you survive?
- Day by day.
I survive staying here,
and I survive staying at the night shelter
with my kids.
- [Interviewer] So right now,
you're actually living your primary residence
is the shelter?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] What's a given day like?
- We spend most of our time in here
or at the park.
I have a son that goes to school,
so he doesn't really spend his day here.
We come and shower here.
We have lunch here.
Comes 3:00, we have to leave,
and I can take my kids to the park.
At 5:00, the night shelter opens.
And we wait for us to get in two beds at night.
- [Interviewer] You have to wait each night?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] How long is the wait?
- Two hours, a two-hour wait.
From 5 all the way to 7.
- [Interviewer] And how old is your daughter?
- My daughter's three.
- [Interviewer] And your son is?
- Nine.
- [Interviewer] Nine, in what grade?
- He's a third-grader at Seal Smith.
- [Interviewer] Wow. - Yes.
- [Interviewer] You're such an encouragement to me.
I mean, what a challenge.
Being a Mom, to begin with, is just,
I'm sure lots of joys
and lots of challenges.
But trying to raise two kids
while living in a homeless shelter.
- Very hard.
- [Interviewer] I really don't know what to say.
What's your future, what do you--
- I do plan to get in a home soon.
After saving money myself.
I don't believe in any case management
around here because they charge
for us to keep our money in a bank account.
And I have tried that attempt,
but it didn't work out for me,
so I'm going the slower route,
which is putting money aside myself
and it's just taking a little longer
'cause there's always barriers.
But I seem to overcome them at times.
But my main focus
is just to keep us together.
- [Interviewer] It's gotta be terribly hard
to save money while being homeless
because there's so many crises that comes up.
- Oh yes, yes.
It's very hard.
That's why it's taken me longer
than what I expected it to.
- [Interviewer] How do people help?
People are watching this throughout the country,
how can somebody help?
Just homelessness in general,
because there's homeless families
in their neighborhood.
- People could help with
finding out the background or information
on the real person,
how they got there, like this.
And seeing that some of them
aren't quite a statistic situation.
I was a local in this area,
born and raised here,
graduated from here.
I just didn't have the resources
at the time to support
what I was going through at the time,
and that's how I lost my home.
But I'm waiting it out now.
It took me a long time
for everything to come together,
but I seem to put a smile on my face
for my kids to see
because I don't want them
to believe that...
This is scary, it is.
Because we're dealing
with a lot of people, but yet
they can never say that they
never experienced something like this
in their life.
And it's an experience for them, also.
- [Interviewer] What's your biggest challenge?
- My biggest challenge
is to become successful.
(laughs)
To become a successful mother.
And to have a home for my kids.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes,
what would they be?
- To have a home for my kids.
And to have good health.
And to be happy.
- [Interviewer] Well, you look happy.
Is that just a front?
- I blocked all the bad
'cause I'll probably get sick if I do
dwell on bad.
I'm a very cheerful person as is, so,
that's not a front.
(laughs)
And I do it for my kids.
- [Interviewer] Well, thank you very much
for talking to me.
- Thank you very much.
- [Interviewer] Say bye.
- Bye.
(laughs)