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“I had so many problems and so many things going on it was like I was going crazy. I wanted to kill myself,” she remembers. “When the kids went to bed I would cry and talk to God but I didn’t know where to go for help.”income and no child support. She had migrated to Australia from Thailand 15 years ago and had no family here to call on for help.

Then her son, Billy, who had recently attended a Salvation Army children’s camp after being identified by his school as a candidate, told Lakkhana about The Salvation Army being a church and encouraged her to go along.

Lakkhana had already been attending The Salvation Army Greater Liverpool, undertaking a computer course to upgrade her skills. She began to talk to her teacher, Brett Smythe, about her problems.

“I talked with Brett every day,” she says. “I cried sometimes. Sometimes we didn’t even learn the computer – we were just talking. He was like my counsellor.”

The Salvation Army helped Lakkhana with bill payments and taught her budgeting skills to get her finances on track. Her Salvation Army case-worker also liaised with various agencies to help with Lakkhana’s personal family problems.

Lakkhana and her children began worshipping at The Salvation Army Greater Liverpool and she says the change in her life over the past few months has been dramatic: “Before [I came to The Salvation Army] I would cry. I didn’t look good. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep. And everybody noticed.

“Now…  after I came here,  my friends tell me, ‘Lakkhana, why you look good? Do you have a boyfriend?’ Everyone asks me this! I say, ‘yeah I have boyfriend.’ And they say, ‘Who’s your boyfriend?’ and I say: ‘Jesus!’

“I have a relationship with God. I believe, and it makes me strong, it makes me not think like I’m going to kill myself."

Lakkhana says times are still tough, but with The Salvation Army’s help and her faith in God, she now has hope for the future.

“The Salvation Army are still helping me with food and with some bills… They taught me budgeting and how to save but sometimes there is no money to save!

“If I didn’t have The Salvation Army to teach me about Jesus I don’t know what would have happened.” 

Report by Lauren Martin
Photo: Lakkhana Ingram shared her story at The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal multicultural launch in May. (Photo: Shairon Paterson)