article_snippet: We were very much living on the edge of the poverty line.
article_snippet: We were very much living on the edge of the poverty line and as the eldest daughter I stepped into the surrogate mother role. '
article_snippet: The hardest thing I've ever done in my life was telling the strong women in her life, including her mother and grandmother children their children'd lost their children father - not through something their children couldn't prepare for, but just so suddenly. '
article_snippet: It has been challenging, and having children living through that means I think back to mum and how my father wasn't there, and now I have to step into that void for my own children.' '
article_snippet: I go back to my roots and who mum was and the values and skills Ms Batchelor taught me -