An evicted single mother living in poverty believes that individuals have to take responsibility for their own actions rather than blaming society .

The woman who spoke to The Royal Gazette was evicted from her Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) home in February.

She put her situation down to mounting debt caused by a combination of poor money management skills and a very small budget to work from.

But, unlike many other women who spoke to The Royal Gazette on the issue, she does not blame the Government for her current situation. Instead the 35-year-old mother of two believes that there is a lesson in all this for her to learn, as this is the second time that the woman has been evicted for exactly the same reasons.

Since her eviction, her two sons, who are now 11 and 13, have lived with their father while she sleeps on her mother's couch - a situation she can only take advantage of until next month.

The woman, who works as a cashier with irregular singing gigs, said that her main reasons for getting evicted was two-fold - she did not earn enough money and two she did nor manage the money she did have.

Her ex-husband gave her $500 a month in child support for both boys and she earned $350 a week from her job as a cashier in a supermarket.

She said the father supported the boys financially, but not emotionally in the eight years that they have been divorced.

She said: "I miss my children, and I miss having them around, but there was nothing I could do.

"I owed the BHC about $19,000 in back rent and I couldn't see any way to get out of it.

"I also owed an extra $21,000 to other organisations. At first it starts when you are one month behind - then two - then three, and unfortunately I never caught up.

"I am trying to pay off my debts and after everything I am down to $1.25 a week.

The mother said that only her closest friends knew what has happened to her.

"I don't talk to anyone about being homeless and not the pain related to not having my children," she said.

"I find that there is nothing that anyone can do for me, I simply have to silently do it myself."

She said although she misses her sons, it is easier not to have to feed or cloth them.

"Their father who now keeps the child support money is finding it difficult to feed and clothe his sons on the same $500 that he gave to me," she said.

"But now my older son has a job packing groceries and he bought himself a pair of $75 shoes - I never paid that for shoes."

After becoming homeless a second time she feels that it is a poverty mindset.

The woman added: "It won't happen again because I am looking at things differently now.

"When I look back over my family's life they didn't have this and didn't have that, it was like a generational curse. I think we are so caught up in living today, that we are not planning for the future."

In the past she had received help from Social Services and later was moved over to Financial Assistance (FA).

"What Social Services said that I could or was supposed to be able to live on - I didn't stress out about it," she said.

"Then I received help from the FA, but when you miss a month on your rent you can never catch up.

"I blame no one but myself, I am not even pointing the blame to Sen. David Burch. There was no way for me to pull down the arrears."

"I would like to say that I am paying the mortgage on my house. What happened to rent-to-buy schemes? Let me pay the rent for my own house instead of paying outstanding rents.

"Because of the outrageous rents so many people have to move back in with mom."

Before being evicted she went for a money management consultation, where she was told that she was poor, because her rent was more than half her monthly earnings.

"The cost of living is high and the wages are not great - it's really a challenge," she added.

"I just wonder how and when the cycle will stop."

"At the moment life is more manageable, I take home $350 and every week I pay $170 towards the bills.

"I have a little for food, transportation and washing clothes, but I still don't have enough to pay for rent.

Once evicted, she had nowhere else to go, other than to her mother's house, because she felt that people were tired of her.

"You can wear people out because I had been this way before and they feel that they can't take it on again," she said.

She found that although being experienced in many fields, she has not been able to get a better paid full time job.

She said: "I was offered a job in the bank as a supervisor, but because my credit history was bad, the offer was withdrawn.

"I ask, how long must I be punished for this, I didn't steal from anyone, I didn't get in trouble with the law, I am just trying to make ends meet."

Through it all she believes that God will see her through.

"I am going to be the lender and not the borrower - the head and not the tail - this is what I hold onto.

"He is going to see me through. My circumstances will change. This is not going to be my life forever. It is a storm and this is a storm that will pass.