Martin’s Story

Like most of our guests, Martin’s story is one of a kind…

Born in London in the 1940s, Martin emigrated to Australia aged 16 by a Big Brother Movement organised by his local church. This is where he lived for the next 40 years, starting a family and working in various agricultural jobs.

In 2003, Martin went to Thailand where he met his second wife and thought that he had finally met his happy ever after. Then due to a tsunami, he spent two years searching for his wife’s family who were missing and also lost a cafe he was just about to open before the tsunami hit. Again, Martin worked very hard to get a job teaching English and Social Studies.

Just as he was getting back on his feet, he lost his wife to cancer. Martin later discovered that he too had cancer and had multiple tumours on his face. Having had 3 operations, Martin was told he could not return to his old job teaching due to his new “scary” appearance. Martin told us that appearance is very important in Thai culture.

Martin had a further setback when hoping to retire in Australia where his children are still living. However, according to Australian Immigration Martin was not a resident of Australia and he did not qualify for residency. Martin had no other option at this point but to return to the UK much to his children’s horror. They were very worried about him.

He came here with £900 and stayed in a cheap hostel whilst trying to sort out his pension. No country that Martin had lived in seemed to be able to support him. Martin ended up rough sleeping with 11p in his pocket before he was referred to us at Shelter From The Storm.