Whole village helps family of six in need - "The cohesion is just amazing"
Created: 12/26/2022, 12:02 p.m
By: Theresa Kuchler
Infinitely grateful for the village's support: Sumire Emi and her five children.
When the family got into trouble, the Schwabsoiener stood by them.
© Sumire Emi
A bad year is over for Sumire Emi.
Because her husband threatened her, the 36-year-old couldn't go home with her five children for months.
Their salvation was the cohesion in the village.
Schwabsoien – When Sumire Emi sits in the kitchen with her two youngest children, you can't tell what she's been through in the past few months.
Smiling, she slides the plate of cookies across the large wooden table and watches the boys reach for the cookies with their little fingers.
The chair Emi is sitting in doesn't match the others in the room, but that doesn't matter.
The 36-year-old is grateful to even have any again.
"It's all donations," she says.
It wasn't long ago that the 36-year-old stood with her five children in an almost empty apartment.
Her husband, from whom she is now separated, took most of it with him when he moved out in early December.
Furniture, washing machine, dishes were gone.
But at least he left, says Emi.
She fought for it in court for four months.
Husband threatened unequivocally - "We couldn't go home"
The difficulties began in August when Emi took the children to visit her sister in Kassel.
"We spent three weeks there, like every year." Her husband had contracted Corona and stayed at home.
While the family was away, he sent Emi several text messages in which he unequivocally threatened her.
"We couldn't go home," she says, her voice now much more tense.
Emi had not felt safe in the presence of her husband for some time.
"He never beat me up," she says, but once in a while he got physical.
All in all, it was above all the psychological pressure from which she suffered greatly.
Application for protection against violence was rejected
The 36-year-old criticizes that women who suffer from domestic violence are often alone.
"Unless you're black and blue, you don't get much help."
Her application for protection against violence, which she had submitted to the Weilheim District Court while she was on vacation, was rejected.
The court had not yet assigned her the apartment when she was on her way home with the family.
"I was really upset," the 36-year-old recalls.
"I didn't know where to go."
The family of six moved into the women's shelter for two and a half weeks
She was saved by the generosity of the Schwabsoiener.
An acquaintance from the village, herself a mother of eight children, immediately took the family of six in to live with her.
"It was a matter of course for her, even though we weren't even close friends," says Emi with beaming eyes.
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The Schwabsoienerin shared her home with Emi and the children almost continuously.
Only for two and a half weeks, when Emi's girlfriend had visitors, would the space have become too small.
"We were in the women's shelter in Kaufbeuren for so long," says the 36-year-old, who has fond memories of the time there.
Villagers helped with donations - "The cohesion is just amazing"
The turning point came at the end of November: the higher regional court in Munich awarded the mother and her five children the apartment – “we had hoped for it, but the chances weren’t really good”.
So her husband moved out.
He was allowed to see the children the entire time.
"Once a week for two hours," says the 36-year-old.
A social worker was always present at the meetings.
Emi explains that she wants to keep the children in touch with their father.
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When Emi thinks about the past few months, she says: "What could go wrong went wrong." Nevertheless, she is infinitely grateful.
"In just two days, the village gathered everything we need to live," says Emi, pointing to the furniture in her apartment.
When she had nothing more, the “Tropfen” association supported her with donations, and she received support, donations and loving letters from many Schwabsoieners and people from the area.
"The solidarity here is just amazing," says the 36-year-old.
And she's sure it's not just because of Christmas.
The local newspapers in the Weilheim-Schongau district are represented on Instagram under “merkur_wm_sog”.
