Storm Victims

See video: https://youtu.be/bU5U8I6WZaA?si=TCKYaD5gV-1pW9zb

Five of us have been houseless over the last two years. We lived in a three person Aldi pop up tent through wild spring storms and each morning after it had collapsed on us I would rebuild it, try to add more ropes and scoop out the water from the floor. We lost three marquees that were set up as a kitchen, the wind tearing them all to pieces. We ended up in a mouldy rental that made us incredibly sick, neither the real estate nor the council would intervene or supply us with emergency accomodation and we had to continue to pay rent even if we left, so we moved into the backyard in another tent, the pipes were all trashed, leaking water inside and sewerage into the backyard where we were living. The council still did not attend. We sent videos of Abby and the children having seizures and full body skin reactions and they showed no compassion. We moved into a campervan and moved to a new community in an attempt to find some folks who would care enough to help us survive until we could get back on our feet. We spent a very cold central vic winter moving our van around town each day finding a new spot to sleep. Abby and I spent six months eating one meal a day so the children could have full bellies. We are constantly sick and in pain and it will be a long road to recovery, especially without adequate housing, warmth, nutrition and medicine. We lost everything we own twice, not able to take the contaminated belongings with us and having no home to put them anyway. When the children were very small I would spend hours creating play spaces for their development and painstakingly making wooden toys, felt scenes, and suitcases full of magical worlds. When we lost everything the first time in a freak summer storm that flooded the house, it was devastating thinking of all the hours that went into creating those resources, my children are disabled and require extra resources and support and being autistic they take losing their things extra hard.

We spent months not getting restful sleep, the children would sleep with their eyes open, their lips cracked and weeping. One of my children would regularly threaten me with a knife, this is a generally very gentle child whose body and brain was on fire and they couldn’t cope. When they are well they are the child who tells me at least ten times a day that they love me and hugs and kisses me constantly. Living in toxic mould is absolutely debilitating and even when you get out, if you have acquired mould illness it continues to be a daily battle to heal. One of my other children spent months screaming all day every day.

You get labelled a hypochondriac, even by doctors because only 25% of the population is allergic to mould and so you can be living in a home with someone else who doesn’t get sick at all and can’t understand. Even when you are covered head to toe in a rash people will say it’s a coincidence.

Not only did we not get compensation for the medical impacts, the belongings we lost, or the emotional turmoil, a huge loss of income, or transitional housing, we didn’t even get our bond back.