Hello, is anybody out there?
Okay, I just aged myself. I am still shaking my head at the fact that I made a blog.
I got myself into a situation and it has left me high and dry and very much on my own.
You know what 'they say'. "You find out who your friends are when..." Well it turns out that I do not have any friends. None that are in a position to help any way. Does that matter, well it turns out that it does.
Since this is my first Blog I will introduce myself by showing you the video I put onto Youtube. It explains a bit of what I have been going through but that is just a start. There is so much more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7qtlqy27gU
Did you look? Okay, so I was living in Switzerland for 10 years. I went there originally with my husband and three kids.
Oh, just a second the dang tap is drip drip dripping. Okay, that's better.
Yes, okay, I have a problem with speaking my mind. I think therefore I am??? Actually as a single Mom in the never ending world of kids yelling "Mommmmm" I do not have any kind of social life at all. My daily conversations are usually "What?" and "Okay sweetie, is there anything else Mommy can do for you?".
Oh, and that has not changed even now that they are all teenagers :)
I would take the time to find some adult friends... if I only had the time. But I am really not complaining, even if it sounds that way. I am of the mind set that kids are only kids once and to embrace every moment because before long it is gone. I was a kid once and I have no fond memories of my mother ever being there for me. So I want to be there for my kids. I want them to have good memories and no matter what has happened or is happening in my world. My kids are first and I try my hardest to keep them stress free.
I try to keep my chin up at all times even but I have to admit there are some moments that my chin weighs a ton.
I know the problems in my world always start because I am too nice. Really, I have the hardest time being a bitch. I joke about it but at the end of the day I find I have put everyone else first. Oh it is not so bad, it actually feels really good but then I find myself in these predicaments.
I will write more later but right now I have to finish packing up.
You see I have to leave our house tomorrow. Yup, we are moving. Where? I do not know.
Where is Keanu Reeves hanging out these days? I want to live with him.
Oh am I typing out loud?
If you seen my YouTube video you would know I am in a crazy predicament at the moment.
As I started off saying, I was in Switzerland for 10 years (I will explain more later) to make a long story short I went from being abandoned by my husband without any support payments, to having my own Children's Center I called the 'Pit Stop' and 'Cafe Canada'. Unfortunately the building I was in got sold and was to be torn down. I put the word out in the newspapers that I was looking for a new location and due to the high costs of life in Switzerland I needed help doing so.
Well my business proposal got taken to Annette Ringier, one of the richest woman in Switzerland and one of her staff called me and said my project was going to be picked up by the Ringier AG company as a pilot project.
Dang, I thought that I won the lottery. We were so excited.
But I should have known from the start things were fishy because I was told that I had to keep private as to whom was helping me. I was told it was because I was in the paper all the time (as seen on my Youtube video) and they did not want the hype and attention. I think hype and attention would have been great for business but I did as I was told because I was so excited to have help. Real help.
I do not read or write German and I speak only enough to get by, so I did as I was told and that was that.
So I thought.
Just as all this was happening I was having another problem. Since my 'Pit Stop' was all packed up my kids started coming home from school bored. When I asked the problem they explained to me that they were doing more at my center after school then they were ever doing in school.
This was a problem.
So, I went to the school and asked if my kids could have more work. Maybe we should test them to make sure they are at the right level. This is where my big problem started.
It turns out that there are a lot of bored kids in the public school system in Switzerland and if they move one child then they would have to move more and this is a problem. You see, it upsets their system and it turns out that there are people that do not like to think outside the box like I do. So, I got into trouble.
My oldest son started to simply stop going to school. "They make me feel like an idiot Mom" "I know I am smart and the teachers do not like this, I hate them and I am not going". What do you do when your kid says this? Well I told my appointed Ringier helper this , she had Annette Ringier pay for tests on my kids. It turns out my son is smart, very very smart. A little Genius to say the least, no wonder he was bored. Poor guy. But the school did not want to accept this, they put him into a hospital saying he must be really sick not to want to go to school. Really, true story. They would not accept he needed more input.
But it was not enough to pick on just one of my kids they had to pick them all apart. To make a long story short. (And now remember, I can not speak or read German)
Even though the teachers and city council members spoke English to me on the street, inside the classroom and during meeting they refused to speak to me in English and made me try and figure everything out in German, even paying a translator to come. (but as it turned out I understood more then I realized after living there 10 years, and the translator was not telling me everything, just what they thought was important.)
Well excuse me but when it comes to my kids, everything is important.
Yes, I will write a book one day! Actually I already started and have a couple of publishing companies interested.
Again, to make a long and complicated story short, I was called into a meeting, with the city council and a lawyer paid for by Annette Ringier and I was basically told that I was not a good Mom. That my 'Pit Stop' was bad not only for my children but of the children in my village. I was told that they would remove my children from me because: I would not accept them putting my oldest son into a youth home, as I was told my home was over stimulating for him. My daughter was too 'fat' (which is a complete load of bull, anyone who heard this said it was crazy, big boobs as they run in my family yes, fat no. but if the teacher says it they say it must be so) and my youngest son would not take a shower. All crazy trumped up charges against me because I challenged them and because they were all upset with me for not telling them where I was getting extra money from.
Remember I was told to tell no one that Annette Ringier was helping me? This silence got me into trouble.
So much trouble that: I was sent a letter (in German) telling me that I had to have my 3 kids packed and ready as they were going to remove them from my home. Yes!
(before I go on, I should point out that after we arrived in Canada I was e-mailed a letter stating that all charges were dropped and they were sorry. I am a good mom and my kids could stay with me, but it was too late by then...we were gone and afraid to return.
When I asked the two different lawyers (paid for by Ringier) what to do? I was told to pack a bag each and get out of the country ASAP! I was told that I could not say "Good-bye" or "Thank you" because if anyone knows I am going the authorities will find out and arest me at the airport for 'Kidnapping' (when you sign your kids up in the public school system they belong to Switzerland) and then my kids would be taken and never returned to me. I was terrified, in shock and even writing this still gives me goosebumps!!!
So, again I did as we were told. Crying the whole time in private and chin up as high as I could when my kids were around.
After all it can not be so bad right? Annette Ringier told me that she would pay for our flights, help reestablish us and then continue to care for us financially for 3 years to make sure we were all okay. Not so bad right?
She also knew that I was scared to return to Canada because my marriage ended on a very violent note and I was scared to expose myself or my children to this man. The number one reason I was allowed to stay in Switzerland after he left was because the police told me my husband was not allowed back into the country after what happened and I was to be safe there. I really felt safe. Now this safety net was being ripped from under me at no choice. I was and still am really scared.
But Annette assured me she had my back and everything would be okay. She even told me the new idea I had for "The Swiss-Canadian Connection" was a good idea and worth doing. This means I would get a house big enough so that Swiss kids could come and stay with us in Canada to learn English and see the country.
We would have a home and a job. This would be good right. I was not ready to leave the wonderful Swiss kids behind. I love them very much as they grew up before my eyes. No I was not ready to have to go. Not ready at all. But I love my kids more and when you are a Mom you do whatever it takes. Right??!!!
I tell you fleeing the country was very scary and terrifying to say the least. Okay so Annette gave me money in my pocket. Annette had my back right? Everything was going to be okay? That is what all the e-mails were telling me.
Stupid me, I had nothing in writing and signed. Only e-mails, that I am only now being told, mean nothing. NOTHING!!!
Yup, you guessed it (okay you did see my Youtube video) once we hit Canadian soil the promises were broken. After being sent a bit more money I was then told to go on the social service system.
I WAS IN SHOCK!!! This is not being reestablished. Where was the help? Where was our protection?
If I had known for one second it would happen like this then I would not have taken Annette's help. There were other people interested in helping me. Sure they did not offer a pilot project and lavish me with money but it was good honest help.
I wrote and I wrote and I wrote, trying to explain that after being out of the country for so long I do not qualify for any kind of assistance. I have no credit rating in Canada and I can not rent a home without a job and i can not get a job without a home. I did not come back to be on Social Assistance! And where was the safety net about protecting me and my kids from my husband?
Ohhh it is 9:50, I got to go. After all we are evicted from this house and we have to go tomorrow. Where who knows? But I am sure everything happens for a reason and everything will be okay. Right?
Right!?
Thanks for listening to my vent. I will continue later.
Have a wonderful Saturday
Randie
No comments:
Post a Comment