"For the next fourteen years, I didn't go out, only when spring came. Then I stepped out into my back garden. It was the longest fourteen years of my life. I had no social life at all _ no bingo, clubs, or anything else. I spent all of these years on social assistance because I couldn't see any other way to keep my children together. I cared for them to the best of my ability."
"When I was 45 and my children were on their own I tried to find work. I worked with the Department of Forestry for the next seven seasons. I got off social assistance and was making it on my own. Then last season my job was gone. Desperation set in again. It was the first time in my life I was ever sorry I didn't have my education. It's the most desperate feeling in the world, not being able to depend on yourself."
"That's when Charmaine tried to talk me into going back to school to get some upgrading. She really pushed me until I finally went. I guarantee you I didn't want to go the first time. I came here at least six times before I had the guts to walk in the door. I had to come in alone, which was a big thing."
"It's very hard to be 53 and not have the ability and the confidence to do what's necessary to get my GED. I hope the next twenty years are easier than the first fifty-three. I don't think I can handle just surviving anymore. It would be great to have a job that you don't have to worry about losing at least till 65. It's no one's fault but my own. It sure does pay to have your education."
Sharon says that not having an education "never bothered me until the children were grown up and I wanted to make a life for me. I don't want to be dependent on my children. I'm trying to figure out how to get a job and stay in school."
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