Kiran Singh is a single Mum to a lively, 8 year old little lady, she is of Indian origin; and was born and brought up in Norway.
She told Asian World she always wanted to be a Designer and run her own company, and explained how she had an arranged marriage that lasted all of 1 year, during that time; she got pregnant and got divorced before she had her baby.
Kiran spoke about the failure of her marriage, she said “My ex raped four of his colleagues and went to jail so I had him deported back to India and have never heard from him since”, after this horrific ordeal she struggled to get a passport for her daughter as fathers consent was required, she said “After 4 years, the Norwegian passport office couldn’t get hold of him so they issued my daughter a passport which meant a big deal to us.” She explained without a passport for her daughter she was not able to travel to Norway or anywhere else to see her family.
Life became very difficult for Kiran, it seemed to be one thing after another, but she could not predict the news she received regarding her mother’s health she said “My mother got ovarian cancer in 2004, so I took care of her; I quit my fulltime job and started working from home. My mother struggled with cancer for 3 years until she passed away in 2007.”
6 months later she and her daughter took the brave step to move to London in July 2008. She explained “our life in London started not as I had planned and hoped for, I got a job offer as Interior Designer before I moved, sadly by the time I could start, the company shut down because of the recession.” Kiran said for a year and a half, she had no money and no help. Like many thousands in Britain struggled with debt. She said “I found out about The Citizen Advice Bureau through the children’s centre. They advised that I was entitled to certain benefits and that I needed to sign-up with the Job Centre.” During this time in Kirans life as if she had not been through enough she was attacked whilst she was on her way to pick her daughter up from school. She said about the frightening ordeal “Someone grabbed me from behind, I started screaming and he ran away. I was so scared, but picked up my baby went home and didn’t leave the house for a week, didn’t even send my baby to school.” Eventually she found the strength to mention the ordeal to one of the staff at the Children’s Centre who advised her to contact the police.
After much thought Kiran does a teaching qualification through the job centre at the local college.
Kiran said “I finished my teaching qualification and then joined Housing Catalyst who helped single parents get back to work.” Kiran described a trip to Paris in September 2009 to attend Maison & Objet, where she picked up a magazine from Boots, had inspired her to make a real difference her in life. Kiran said “I found a very touching article about 2 sisters who had lost their mom to cancer, they then contacted The Eve Appeal and became their supporters. This article inspired me to do the same; I had a meeting with them, did some training and became their Regional Ovarian Cancer Coordinator.”
From this inspiration she was able to more forward more productively and as luck would have it during autumn last year she managed to secure a restaurant design project in Uxbridge who then hired her part-time as their Office Manager, handle the PR & Marketing and Events co-coordinator. Kiran said she now also works for Ealing Adult Learning and Hillingdon Adult & Community Learning as Interior Design Tutor. She is also an Editor-in-Chief of 2 online magazines; Vivacious Mum (www.vivaciousmum.com) and My Unique Home (www.myuniquehome.co.uk). Now she also runs the local Gingerbread friendship group for single parents in Harrow and has recently been shortlisted for the Woman Survivor of the Year Award for the 2012 Empowering Women Awards.
After 4 years of hard work and a ‘no giving up’ attitude, Kiran can finally see the light. She has said “We are now finally settled. My Dad always used to say never give up, work hard and it will pay off one day. This is so true! Every day is a chance to start again. I’ve been lucky to get to start my life all over again with clean sheets. I don’t regret my choices.”
Her plans for next year is to open a resource centre for Single Mums where they can go to, meet other single parents, make friends, share experience, get motivated, attend various courses and so on.
Kirans Story is a truly inspirational one for all single mothers, and her motto ‘don’t give up’. Has truly helped her through her struggles and stresses.
