Born in Jamaica and brought up in Birmingham, former beauty pageant winner Euphemia, 63, spent much of her adult life in Italy, only returning to the UK in 2012 after a family trauma. She wanted to be closer to her relatives and was looking forward to finding work, having previously run her own beauty store and held jobs in a toothpaste factory and at a travel agency.
“It turned out things had changed since I was last here and it was so hard to find a proper job,” she says.
“For a while I worked in a shop from 8am until midnight for just a hundred pounds a week. I also got offered a job working on a street stall but as I have health troubles it was not good to be outside all day”.
Euphemia has experienced problems with her kidneys since she was punched in a racist attack in 2006.
“I haven’t had an easy time but I try to smile and be there for others because we all have problems,” she says.
Some of the other women guests at the shelter call her ‘Auntie’ or ‘Mother’.
“I like that because my mother left me when I was two so I always try to share the love that I didn’t have”, she smiles.
Euphemia enjoys sewing, cooking and chatting but says her ideal job would be running a charity shop.
“My dream is to earn my own money again and to be able to hold a set of keys in my hand and unlock the door to my own room”.