I knew her from the warming shelter. On the nights when I dropped in to help, she was often there. So cheerful. Always polite. We could only speak through the translation app on the phone, but we used it. We had several conversations. She worked during the days, at odd jobs she could find, some of them housecleaning. Being able to find work was very important to her. It’s hard to work when you don’t have a place to keep your belongings during the day. There are many who are unhoused who would like to work, but can’t manage it with the instability of homelessness encroaching on every need, including the need to keep track of the belongings that help you survive the night. This shelter was only open if it rained, or if the temperature was especially cold. On nights when the shelter wasn’t open, I don’t know where she slept.
She told me that sometimes, she missed out on cleaning jobs because she couldn’t supply her own vacuum cleaner. I tried to connect her with a resource I knew of for immigrants, and I also tried to arrange for a vacuum cleaner for her to use, -one that she didn’t have to carry around with her unless she needed it to work that day. I was close to having something figured out when the winter shelter closed for the year. On the last day, I gave her my contact information and went over the vacuum plan with her. She expressed profuse gratitude, but I didn’t hear from her again. I was recovering from a long illness and going into one of the busiest times of the year for families. I didn’t finish the arrangements, and didn’t reach out to her, as I should have.
This year, I heard about her. I learned she had found someone to stay with, but ICE came there, and took her away. This year, they are not running the warming shelter. There is no option to come inside during the rain and cold for the hundreds in the vicinity who are sleeping outside. And this year, there is no cheerful smile from her, not in the shelter, nor anywhere at all. There is no more news of her. She has disappeared into the detention centers, and I don’t know where beyond that. It is a vacuum in which the people are sucked away.