‘I left home for my children’
After fleeing Sierra Leone to protect her twins from FGM, a refugee battles the odds to make a new life in Ireland.
What's your money worth? A series from the front line of the cost-of-living crisis, where people who have been hit hard share their monthly expenses.
Name: Fatama Osman*
Age: 32
Occupation: Qualified nurse, but currently unemployed
Lives with: Her twin daughters, Amina* and Aminata* (10)
Lives in: A single room in a hostel for asylum seekers in Dublin, Ireland, which serves as a bedroom, kitchen, living room and cupboard all in one. The blue-carpeted room has one single bed, one double bed, a table and a separate bathroom attached. The hostel is in a neighbourhood with grocery stores, cafes, and a post office where Fatama collects her weekly welfare cheque.
Monthly household income: 392 euros ($423) or 98 euros ($106) weekly as a direct provision from the Irish Department of Social Protection
Total expenses for the month: 551.47 euros ($595)
*Names are pseudonyms to maintain the family’s privacy.