Homeless Kate bounced back with a smile
With a house with a sea view in New Zealand, and winning awards for her work as an advertising art director, life was good for Kate Saarinen. But things were to change drastically.
Jobless and homeless, she found herself living in an ancient caravan and taking showers in service stations back in England.
And now Kate, from Stafford, has told the story of her decline, fall, and rise up again, in a book called Oh My Life, which is available on Amazon and Kindle.
A percentage of the proceeds will go to The House of Bread in Stafford, a charity which gives home-cooked meals for homeless and vulnerable people in the town.
"It’s a biography of what it feels like to be homeless and when good luck seems to have deserted you, especially in your latter years," she said.
"I’m educated, professional and middle class. What’s going on? My book is a series of disasters and how I coped with them. Some are desperate and some funny."
Kate, who is originally from London, briefly worked as a singing telegram girl, before settling on a career in advertising which took her all around the world.
Things started to turn sour shortly after she moved to New Zealand, where she had a serious heart problem and also lost her voice and had to be taught to speak again by her eight-year-old son.
She returned to Britain after 16 years, leaving behind an ex-husband.
"We became homeless about six years ago and landed up in a tiny 1980s caravan outside Salisbury, living hand to mouth in every sense. After about two years, my partner Alex returned to work for his old employers and was asked to move to Stafford as they had just bought new premises and needed him to manage the depot.
"Having lived through those times, I felt that there had to be reason behind it all and began to write down all the things that happened and tried to make sense of them.
"Alex felt very let down by the system as he had always worked and paid his taxes. It was only when we came to Stafford that we were offered a place to call home.
"These days I work primarily as a support worker with Learning Disability.
"I hope Oh My Life is a story not only with dignity, but for people going through the ups and downs of life. Above all, it has a healthy dose of humour."
