I am wondering today if I was any use at all to that woman. I feel rather guilty: what I should have done is got an Uber, gone to her flat, picked her up with her four children, and brought them to my flat until their return could be arranged. But what if her family did not arrange her return to Pakistan? I could not, or at least would not, buy five tickets to Pakistan. What if it took longer than a week or so? I am going away for 10 days soon. But what if all of these are excuses and what would my mother, a far more decisive person than I, have done?
I contacted the shelter on her behalf but maybe she already knew about it. I spoke to her on the phone several times trying to persuade her to talk to them, but maybe that was not necessary. I urged her brother to persuade her to go to the shelter. She is at the shelter. I have some money prepared for her, but it’s not enough to buy five plane tickets to Islamabad. I don’t know if that was right, or sufficient or what the rest of her story will be.
One thinks that in such happenings one will know if one is useful or useless, but I really am not sure.