WHO AM I & WHAT IS MY STORY?

Hello, My Name is Marielle Carlos,

I'm 21 years old and pregnant with my first child. I'm currently residing in the Philippines, but grew up in Sydney, Australia. However, due to living in Australia on a student visa since I was 4 years old, I was never able to acquire a residency in Australia because I was living with my Aunty and Uncle, and my parents and siblings lived in the Philippines. The immigration wouldn't allow me to obtain a Permanent residency because my parents were Filipino Citizens. My Aunty and Uncle tried to adopt me when I was 4 years old, but weren't successful in doing so, because immigration told them it was not allowed because my parents were still alive and healthy. They tried to tell them that they weren't financially able to raise me, and that my dad was taking drugs, but unfortunately immigration denied them. We tried many many different ways to try and get me a PR in Australia, but the only thing immigration said was to keep studying, and eventually get a job and sponsorship, but figured that reapplying for a student visa whenever it run out was far too costly for us. 

All my life, I lived with my Aunty and Uncle, and would stay with my Nana every weekend until I turned the age of 13 and permanently decided to move in with her. 

Growing up I'd say I was lucky enough to have a good upbringing, and in 2013, when My Nana passed away, she had left me with a generous gift, and I was only able to receive it fully when I turned 21 years old. The only problem was, once she passed away, I was able to also receive weekly allowances and extra money for living expenses and also paid for my courses at TAFE which I failed to finish due to my suffering from the loss of the person who meant the world to me. 

In 2014, I moved to the Philippines to reunite with my family (mum, dad, siblings), only to be greeted with the bad news that my own Father was in Jail. I went to visit him for the first time in 2014, and bought him some groceries and food and also gave him money. (Jail over here is different) 

I did not however expect that during my time of living here, I would be taking out extra money from my inheritance and spending it on my family. I didn't think that I would be supporting everybody, from my parents, to siblings to occasionally Aunty and grandparents. I didn't think that I would be the weight bearer, and literally pay for all expenses, which include college fees for both my sister and I, school supplies for my siblings, weekly allowances for my siblings, money daily for my mum, medical, rent, bills, food & groceries & buying furniture and other necessities that we needed or my family needed. 

The biggest mistake I made was not taking note of how much money I was withdrawing from my inheritance, the gift my Nana gave me, was meant for me and my future for after I was 21 years old. However, being young and always thinking about everyone else but myself, I gave most of it to my family. Nobody in my family ever tried to help me or even bothered to find work and pay for themselves. They were all and still are to this day dependant on me even when they know I have nothing more to give to them. 

In 2014, my grandma over here let me live in her house in an area in Mabalacat, if I was to fix it. Because I trusted her with my heart, I spent roughly 5,000 AUD on renovating the place and then buying furniture that I needed to live. Only for her to kick me and my family out of her house because she didn't like the people I lived with, which resorted in us having to move to another place. 

I was also supporting my brother and his girlfriend, and paying for their babies expenses and needs. I was taken advantage of during the past 4 years of having lived here in the Philippines. In 2015, my life turned downhill when my brother started taking Ice, and started stealing from me. The first thing he stole were my speakers, my iPhone, and then later on in 2015, broke into the apartment I was currently renting and ransacked my bedroom and stole my laptop and other electronic gadgets. This resulted in me calling the police and having him arrested. My brother was filed with two cases, robbery and drugs. He is now in Jail with my father. 

In late 2015, I went back to Sydney for my 21st birthday so that I could be able to inherit the rest of my gift. However, when I received the news from my Uncle that I had spent almost all my inheritance in the last 2 years, I was deeply upset. I started to regret giving so much to people who only hurt me, took advantage of me and used me for my money. Never once did they appreciate the things I did for them. 

When I came back to the Philippines, I tried to collect my furniture from my grandmas house, only for her and my Aunty to tell me that I cannot have my things back. They did not want to give the furniture that I had paid for with my own money back to me. They stated that it now belonged to them and that I could afford to buy more. What they didn't realise was, they were stealing. 

I had plans to move back to Sydney early this year, when I still had a bit of money left to afford to. I wanted to study at TAFE and study Community Services work, however all plans backfired and my visa was rejected, and I found out that I was pregnant. 

I don't know how exactly, but all the money that my Nana had left me for my future, is literally gone. All went down the drain. And when people ask me how? I never know the answer. All I know is, I gave and spent money supporting people who are supposed to be my family, but who ended up abusing my generosity and kindness. 

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant, with an 18 year old sister, who is also 29 weeks pregnant. I have a partner who works part time, seeking a full time job so that we can try and earn and save money. The only problem is, we are currently living with his parents and his step mother is not the nicest woman, and she has taken his work pay, saying that until we move out, the money will go to her. 

My sister has a partner, who sadly is also in Jail, and I feel worried because, even though I cannot afford to support my sister anymore like I could in the past, I worry because she doesn't have anyone who can help her, except for me. 

Our Mum is unemployed, and has an addiction to Alcohol. Our whole family over here are unemployed, and are either addicted to drugs, alcohol or gambling. I feel embarrassed in a way to be telling my story and the story of my family on my fundraiser, but it is the easiest way I can to try and share the situation we are currently in.

I don't want people to pity us, or feel sorry for us in any way, I just want to help people understand our situation and my story. To give people an idea of who they are helping out. 

WHAT IS MY CAUSE?

I know that my fundraiser is not as important as most others, but I'm hoping that some people out there are willing to help us out with anything, even if it's just a small and simple donation. 

I am currently struggling to get back on my feet financially, and also need money to be able to pay for birthing expenses for both my sister and I. My due date is September 09 & my sister is due on September 15. 

I'm also trying to raise money, not only for the medical expenses, but also to have a bit of spare money for when my baby is born. I'm having a baby boy, who I've decided to name James, and I really want to give him the best start in life. I know that I'm still young, but due to me being pregnant, I was denied jobs when I tried to apply early this year. I had a lot of plans for myself this year, but all plans backfired on me when I found out that I was pregnant. 

I know that most people focus on the long term solution and goals. When reading or looking at a fundraiser, they usually think about two things; 

A) how is this going to help long term? 

B) how will my donation help in any way? 

I understand that, my fundraiser focuses more on short term. But it also has aspects of long term as well. Long term how you may ask? 

You'll be helping me pay medical bills, to ensure that I have a safe and steady operation for a Cesarean. With the money you donate, you'll also ensure that both my baby and I will live and recover. The money you also donate, will go to baby necessities and needs, that will be used for a long time, and will also help my son long term by helping him grow healthily and happily. The money that you donate will also help us to by basic furniture, so that we can move out and find our own apartment or house to rent. You'll be helping long term in small but very helpful ways. 

I know that a lot of people want to think of longer term solutions, but the main goal for my fundraiser is to try and raise as much money as I can to support not only my medical bills, but my sisters too, and to make sure we both have a safe delivery. And also buy baby needs and necessities, and have money for basic furniture. 

WHAT WILL THE MONEY BE USED FOR?

• Baby clothes 
• Baby furniture (crib, pram etc) 
• diapers & milk formula (if I'm unable to breastfeed) 
• Hospital bills (for my cesarean operation) & my sisters normal birth delivery 
• basic furniture - bed frame, sofa, dining table & chairs, fridge, tv, gas stove & gas tank etc 
• extra money we have will be saved for important things such as food & mineral water 
• apartment deposit (bond) 

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED

We honestly appreciate any amount of money that is kindly donated into our fundraiser. 

• $5.00 - Will help us buy food for the day
• $10.00 - Will help us buy food for a week
• $15.00 - Will help us buy food for 2 weeks plus baby essentials and needs such as diapers and milk etc 
• $20.00 - Will help us buy a little bit of grocery, and a few kilos of rice, baby essentials and also save us money too
• $30.00 - Will help us pay for both my sister's and I's doctor check ups, which cost us around 500 PHP - it will also help us buy our pregnancy vitamins and milk that we need to take. 
  
  Anything is honestly deeply appreciated. Any amount will help us and benefit us in any way. $1.00 = 35 PHP 
  Which is honestly a lot for us. So Imagine when we multiply the money you donate, it will help us with a lot of things. 
  
  I just want to say thank you in advance to the generous and kind people who read our story and decide to help us out. We really do appreciate everything, if it weren't for a lot of you, we wouldn't have been able to go to our monthly check ups or buy our pregnancy vitamins and milk that we need and we wouldn't have been able to also afford to buy other things that we also need for our babies. 

EASIER WAYS TO DONATE TO MY CAMPAIGN

Because there is a fee which I pay for and you also pay for whenever someone donates through fundrazr, here are two other ways in which you can donate to my campaign.

A) Transfer straight into my paypal through my paypal.me link: 

Paypal.me link here

B) Directly into my bank account - just email me on "mariellecarlos@live.com" or if you have me on facebook ask me for my BSB & ACC number, and I will send it to you. 

C) You can just direct transfer on this website, but I will not recieve the full amount of your donation, as fundrazr will charge me a fee. 

However because paypal only allows me to have a limit of 1,000 dollars in my account, It may be best for people to transfer the money directly into my bank account if it's more than $100. 

For smaller donations feel free to just send through to my PayPal via my paypal.me link above :-) 

I really do prefer bank to bank transactions are there's no fee and it's easier for the both of us! :)

Thank you so much for your kind donations!