Help Winter & Family escape a toxic living environment

Hi there, my name is Squid (otherwise known as galaxysquid). I am raising emergency money for my friend Winter (winterslept) as a result of a very abusive living situation she is currently experiencing. Please take the time to read her story below and donate, share, boost as much as possible!! Breakdown of what the funds will be used for is at the end of her story. Thank you. DISCLAIMER: ALL MONEY WILL BE DIRECTLY SENT TO WINTER VIA ANOTHER PAYMENT METHOD. GOFUNDME IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTRY SHE IS CURRENTLY IN!!!

"Hello everyone, my name is Winter, and sadly I'm stuck and I need your help.

I've been offered a non-skippable opportunity (since I got asked to move out of my previous apartment early due to struggling financially after having trouble finding employment back home), to move out of my home country, and come live with my mom, my stepfather and their 4yo son in Dubai, as a sort of "fresh start". At first, I was very apprehensive, because not only do I not speak the language nor do I handle heat well, I couldn't live my own truth because of some discriminatory laws in UAE. However, I wouldn't have to pay rent, I'd have a secure job (my moms company), and I wouldn't need to worry about bills or anything of the sort, just be with my family, my cats, and save up money to then go wherever I wanted on my own.

However, the price of moving was to leave everything I've ever known behind, the apartment I was renting, my friends, my family, pretty much my entire life. So I took the opportunity, because realistically I had no other choice.

Unfortunately, this quickly turned to be instead of a promised comfortable life for a change, an actual living nightmare. My brother also came to Dubai under the same promise, and ever since maybe a week of us living there, the abuse began.

From the start everything was going to plan, we were all working every day, with everyone having their own space, with very few hiccups along the way. My stepfather (who is still our only provider) even quit his cushy government job with the promise to uphold everyone comfortably (this included two apartments, food for us and the cats, new clothes and new electronics) until November this year, and I saw the funds, and I agreed, it was definitely enough. But shortly after my brother made it here, we started losing money incredibly fast, to the point where we cancelled clothes shopping and new electronics entirely, but soon we were left to only about 800 EUR to support our entire family until we can earn some more by working. They blamed my brother for this at first (but I later learned this isn't his fault), and then we were all forced to move into one apartment (with me) together. This apartment is small and fits maybe 3 people if we squeeze, but now there are 5 people (one of which is an autistic 4 year old boy) and 2 cats.

Since we all depend on my stepfather, we took it on the chin and tried making the best of it, with the plan to lock in and earn all our funds via the company, so that we can all be comfortable and continue with the plan.

Soon, we realized that won't be possible, because my stepfather is a very traumatized individual and often has episodes where he gets violent and throws stuff or goes completely unresponsive and acts like a zombie nonstop. This proved to be the case every single day ever since we all got cooped up together, where he would parade around screaming, throwing things, purposely ignoring us, not letting us buy groceries or locking himself in the one bathroom we have, preventing us from using it. It's been causing nonstop mental anguish to not just me, but everyone else, to the point where I've seen my brother cry for the first time since we were kids and he hurt his knee in the park. My mom is barely holding on at this point, and both my brother and I are beyond stressed, to the point where we both expressed suicidal ideation as a response (despite me not thinking this way for years). We all want out of here, my mom, my brother and my 4yo half brother aren't safe here anymore, and we have to escape.

The embarrassing part to all of this is that I can't get out on my own. I've made almost nothing due to my mom's company failing, as well as being in constant stress and panic because of my stepfather's nonstop onslaught on us all. I want to make sure my family is safe, because we all left everything behind and came here with nothing for a new start, but it turned into living hell.

The goal I've set is enough for plane tickets, cat vaccinations/medicine, cat transport, housing and food for all 4 of us (and 2 cats) for a month or maybe 2 until we find jobs to be able to sustain ourselves from that point on, and any extra costs that may occur, such as any paperwork for my baby half brother, possible medical issues, etc.

Please, if you can, help us out, my family has gone through enough of this, and I personally can't wait till I'm finally free to live life the way I want to, without the influence of any abusive father figures. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and again I'm sorry that I got in this situation in the first place."