Note on Location: You will see this campaign is registered in England. GoFundMe does not support Japanese bank accounts, so my sister in the UK is hosting the financial setup to receive and transfer the funds directly to me so I can book my flight.

Hi, my name is Chelsea and I came to Japan almost 3 years ago for a better life. My family is not that well off, so when I got a job to teach English in Japan it was a huge deal. I'm from Trinidad and Tobago and the crime situation back home has been very intense lately. My parents were robbed last Christmas and it's been devastating. I couldn't do much from Japan besides call them daily and check on how they were doing. Luckily they weren't home when it happened.

When I didn't have enough money to move to Japan, my father used all the miles he had saved with American Airlines over the years to get me here on a one-way ticket. I felt terrible because he was planning to use it take my mother on her dream trip. I also took a loan to fund my move and took a year to pay it off. By the end of that year, I had my loan paid off and then enough money saved to fly home.

However, I was working for a dispatch company in the countryside and the contract for my city was not renewed. They decided to transfer me to Tokyo but they said they couldn't fund anything from my move because my new branch was in a different region, therefore it was technically a different company. My entire savings was gone and I had to take another loan just to make up the difference to move.

My grandfather turned 90 a few months ago and my mother said he keeps begging for me to come see him because he wants to see me one last time before he dies. I've been trying so hard to keep my bills to a minimum just to afford to, but on an ALT salary, Tokyo is very expensive. I've been applying for credit cards hoping I can use it to buy a plane ticket, but as a foreigner in Japan on an ALT salary, I've only faced rejection.

My sister also moved away to the UK a year before I moved to Japan for a safer life, so our family hasn't been together for almost 4 years. Any amount of help is welcomed. I'm also working hard to try and save as much as I can myself. I really want to see my grandfather one last time before he passes. Before I left, he sold one of his cows to support me, and I really want him to see how far I've come.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kindness, your empathy, and for helping a stranded teacher finally get back to her family. Your support means more to me than words can say.

With gratitude,

Chelsea