Hi, my name is Elisa.

At the end of June 2015, I moved overseas as a single person, found myself in an entirely different land and laid down my roots: I married, had children, and lived a difficult, but good life. A decade later, I’ve found myself at the end of my eight-year marriage, needing to secure a small apartment for myself and my two small children (ages 6 and 2) but have been unable to do so. I have a modest but stable income, I qualify for housing assistance, and I can afford to pay the rent and basic living expenses of my small family, but I have been unable to secure an apartment of our own because I don’t have any family in this country to co-sign on a rental contract with me. [And if I wish to see my children reguarly, I cannot return to the USA.]

And so here I am, reaching out to friends, acquaintances, and absolute strangers, for help. I must provide my bank with a security deposit to be kept for the landlord at the bank (what we call here Arvut Bankait); it must be an amount of money equal to three months of rent, plus their service fees, in order to give proof of this security deposit to a landlord. This is where you come in: helping me come up with the money for this deposit. Since I can’t know what the final amount of rent will be until I have a final rental price, and I also don’t want to leave myself a little wiggle room for used appliances and furniture, my goal for this campaign is 4,500 USD.

Please share this far and wide. My children and I thank you for any and all help.