As a care worker, Fatima has spent most of her life helping others. But in 2021, she separated from her husband and her health deteriorated, forcing her to stop working. Before she knew it, she was selling her possessions and taking out payday loans just so her children could eat.
Fatima Briscoe was born in Jamaica and moved to London in 1993 when she was eleven years old. She went to school in North London, studied Graphic Design at the University of East London, before moving to Southwark, and spending 23 years working in the care and hospitality industries.
She has suffered from chronic pain for decades and, in 2011, was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, a hormone deficiency that causes fatigue, low blood pressure and, as in Fatima’s case, extreme abdominal and back pain.
Despite this, she soldiered on, determined to care for her four children, aged eighteen to three. In March 2021 she separated from her husband, the main breadwinner. In October, her pain became so debilitating she had to stop work for the first time in her life.
Fatima says: “My whole world was collapsing in front of me.”
She was barely able to afford the basics so when she had to pay for her son’s football club and daughter’s extra English and maths lessons, she took out payday loans which quickly spiralled out of control.
She dragged herself out of debt by selling the only luxuries she owned – her jewellery. She said: “When things come to the crunch you have to do what is necessary.”
The flat she lives in at Rosa Parks House, Munton Road, Walworth had suffered from damp for two years, but it intensified over the winter. Her housing association, Peabody, ignored her cries for help and social services got involved because of the danger the mould posed to her asthma-suffering three-year-old son.
She explains that rising energy bills have also made things difficult: “When my son says he’s cold, I can only put the heating on for five minutes.
“My son had an asthmatic flare-up because he was so cold. He said to me ‘mum I can’t breathe’ and I had to call an ambulance. I was so frightened.”
Last month, Peabody finally fixed the damp in her flat when she got solicitors to email them. She also found Alexandra Rose, a charity that gives food vouchers to families so they can afford to buy fresh healthy produce.
Fatima said: “It’s hard to ask somebody for help because I’m not used to that. I’ve never depended on benefits and have always had income coming in.
“But Alexandra Rose has been a blessing because now I don’t have to worry as much.”
With her health steadily deteriorating, Fatima doesn’t know when she’ll return to work. She struggles to relax but she tries to by meditating, reading, and taking the occasional hot bath. She is currently writing a book about growing up in the Caribbean and a life her in the UK.
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Looking to the future, she said: “If you find yourself in a difficult situation it doesn’t mean you remain in that situation. If you have the right motivation you can turn your life around and make things better.
“For my future, I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel awaiting me.”
Peabody has been approached for comment.