By Colin Warren-Hicks
The Herald-Sun
DURHAM, N.C. — Hope lost, Jeneh Swaray-Akajo sat collapsed, weeping, on the Department of Social Services staircase, lost for words, not knowing how to explain the circumstance to her children through tears of despair nor what to tell the security guard who had just handled her roughly and was demanding she leave.
Since Aug. 8, Durham Police Department staff members and officers have paid for Swaray-Akajo and her three young children to stay at local hotels and provided her with a cell phone, helping the N.C. Central University graduate get back on her feet.
Swaray-Akajo, who was born in Sierra Leone, came to the U.S. for “opportunity,” first moving to Long Island, New York to live with her father, a civil engineer. She attended Suffolk County (N.Y.) Community before transferring to N.C. State but “didn’t like it,” moved to Durham and completed her B.S. degree in chemistry at NCCU, Swaray-Akajo said, later earning a master’s degree online from Capella University in health care administration.
She got married and had three children, now 2, 5 and 9.
After a brief stint in California where Swaray-Akajo and her then-husband searched in vain for “better opportunity,” the couple separated about eight months ago and Swaray-Akajo drove five days cross country back to Durham.
Swaray-Akajo job hunted without luck, staying in hotels before the money ran out and the mother of three sought public help to find shelter on Aug. 8.
Social Services hold her that they “lacked funding,” and could not provide her a place to stay the night and that she would have to sleep in her car, police officers confirmed.
“I asked the woman (from DSS) ‘Is that really the only option for me.’ And she said ‘Do you have any friends or family?’ And I said ‘No.’ And she said ‘Well, that’s the only option we have. I’m sorry I can’t help you,’” Swaray-Akajo said. “I sat down and I saw all the homeless people going around and I was afraid somebody might shoot us or harm us and I sat down and thought about this.”
A security guard told Swaray-Akajo to leave the premises. But, the guard’s words were lost on Swaray-Akajo -- who was lost in “deep thought.”
The guard “reached” for Swaray-Akajo and said “‘Hey, I told you to leave,’” and tapped on Swaray-Akajo’s shoulder.
“And I said, ‘Just give me like five minutes.’ But, I think those five minutes were too much for him,” Swaray-Akajo said. “So, he came and dragged me. By my hand, he dragged me. I wouldn’t get up, so, boom.”
Swaray-Akajo said the security guard looped his hands and arms beneath her shoulders and from behind picked her off the floor, “took” her “to a wall” and dropped her.
“First of all, I was in pain,” Swaray-Akajo said. “But, I was so humiliated and especially my children, that they saw that. They are very young. And they were crying. They were crying. There was so much crying.”
Swaray-Akajo recalls that the security guard told her that if she didn’t leave, she would be going to jail and he dangled handcuffs in a menacing threat.
Durham police Officer N.P. Hawkins arrived on the scene around 7 p.m.
“She was just hugging and holding her kids,” Hawkins said. “It was just the look on her face. It was like all hope was gone.”
Hawkins made calls trying to find a place for the family to sleep besides their Honda CRV crammed with belongings, “They said she had to be on the list. You have to go through Social Services,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins paid for a Red Roof Inn room for the family and bought a “large” Bojangles Tailgate Special with sides.
Next, Hawkins appealed to Facebook friends for further help and DPD investigators J.A. Rodriguez and K.L. Robinson answered the call, went to a 24-hour grocery store and supplied the family of four with toiletries, milk and other supplies.
A week and a half later, Swaray-Akajo has not once slept in her car because Durham police personnel have continued to donate money to fund hotel stays.
Earlier this week, Swaray-Akajo landed a job with a cleaning service.
“We have some leads about possible places in the community that are willing to take her in ... in the Durham area,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a matter of time, taking her out to different locations to find a place.”
Swaray-Akajo called Hawkins “an angel.”