A second mother and son are living in their car and moving from one spot to another each night so that they are not discovered by authorities, has learned.

The woman?s 16-year-old son was featured in a storylast week as part of a homeless and education article. The newspaper also reported on the plight of another mother and son on Monday who were forced to sleep on the street when the car they were living in broke down and needed repairs.

This second family, meanwhile, have been living in their car since they were evicted for non-payment of rent.

The mother, who requested anonymity, said: ?I was working day and night to make ends meet and my son was and still is packing groceries in the evenings and weekends and we still couldn?t afford to pay the rent. My ex-husband has never helped with our son since we were divorced seven years ago.

?I have tried to get him to help, I have even taken him through the courts, but he refuses to help us.

?When people talk about single mothers, it makes me angry, because I am now a single mother.

?I was married before our son was born, but when a husband leaves you, many women are left without support and if you are not educated or have a good paying job, then you are left to try to fend for yourself.

?And it is not always the easiest thing to achieve.?

Despite her situation,the mother remains optimistic.

She said: ?Everything will work it out and God will show us a way out of this.?

The mother said it was difficult to do anything and it gets dark early so trying to get homework done was proving to be impossible.

She said: ?My son was a bright boy and a good student before everything went wrong.

?We lost our place because I was only making $500 a week from my main job and an extra $100 from cleaning in the evenings,? said the woman.

?I just wish that I had a high paying job so that my son could have an easier life and go to college.

?Some days I don?t know what I am going to do next and I wish that I could wave a magic wand and make everything that is bad, good.?

The woman said she has been trying her best to keep her son on the straight and narrow.

?I tell him that things are not always going to be this way ? one day we are going to live in a house again,? she said. I know we will.

?I would have never thought that stuff like this could happen on this Island.

?But I know it was difficult to even buying food for us, it always worked out to about $50 a bag ? it is ridiculous that food prices are so high and rents, too.

?It seems impossible to survive living here.?

The son, whom we called Bill for the interview, told last week that he was not doing his homework and that he had to get up at 6 a.m. so people wouldn?t realise what he was going through.

He said he attended school without a bath and was often too tired to pay attention in class.

He also said that his friends did not know about his current living arrangements.

His mother said: ?When I go to the laundromat, I lay the clothes out straight and then lay them in the trunk of the car.

?But they do get wrinkled.

?I feel really bad when (Bill) goes to school like that.?

I have heard people discussing the other woman living in a car with her son and they have said, ?Doesn?t she have family? It must be her fault.?

?But, I come from a family who have never forgiven me for marrying my husband, they thought I could have married someone else,? said the woman.

?People don?t know what they are talking about and until something like this happens to them, then they don?t know what it is really like.?

@EDITRULE:

People interested in helping this family out can contact reporter Rene Hill at 278-0154 or e-mail rhillroyalgazette.bm