Trinh's Story.

LOVE
THROUGH
LUNCH.

“The Alémais lunch was so beautiful, I couldn't believe it! I still think about it - I remember every single thing. I remember walking to the door, and seeing the table all set up, meeting great people.

I felt like I was 20 years younger. Some women like me, we don't have that hope to be able to dress up. In my wardrobe, I have only black, white, grey - when you worry about what people say about you, it feels scary if you dress up too beautiful.

“I don't have much colour in my life.”

So when I go to Alémais, it surprised me - when I dressed up in the beautiful clothes, I feel so much confidence. People look at me and they didn’t judge me.

When I talked to Rob, and Lesleigh from Alémais, I see they are very friendly people; they made me feel valued. It was a very important thing, for me. It made me like I am special…like I was a super star. I took a lot of photos, to share with my sister back home – I want to show her, ‘see, I am OK, there are good people around me’.

And I loved the food - such amazing food. I've never been in a nice restaurant before in Australia – as a single mom, you need to really care about your finances. To see all that beautiful food, and all the beautiful people sharing it - I’ll never forget it the rest of my life.

Even when I went back to the kitchen, I still remember that moment. I wish other ladies can come there too, together. Even one time - it makes them so much happier. I went with Stevie and she seemed happier, too – talking with her, seeing she’s more relaxed, she put makeup on, she’s dressed up. She feels like she deserves it - to sometimes treat yourself, to be beautiful.

I think maybe some day, I should do a celebration like that. Dress up nicely, be together with friends. It can be hard to find friends who are positive, when we are living in an environment that is quite difficult. When we talk about our situation, we seem to be upsetting people; they look sad, they feel sorry for you. But sometimes we need people who are really happy too, you know?

“You need some beauty, you need some positive, to help your negative go away.”