Olivia's Story

It’s been a short stay so far, but a happy one nonetheless. Olivia is 19 years old and calls Detroit her hometown. Olivia came to Covenant House Michigan June 7th and states that, “the new curriculum they have enables me to do more. I have more productive days which make days go by quicker.” Her first journey in finding a shelter led her to Birmingham, then Mount Clemens and finally Covenant House Michigan.

Before she found a place to stay at CHM, she had gotten into constant fights with her mom who eventually, along with her grandmother, kicked her out. Her mom would go around saying that Olivia would beat up on her and everyone unfortunately started believing it. Out of her family, Olivia has only talked to her three sisters.

“My parents broke up when I was 11 years old and my mother disappeared when I was about 12,” stated Olivia. Olivia and her sisters were on their own, no father or grandmother. She supported herself and her sisters. Her grandmother would stop by to provide them with things they might need and her grandpa would occasionally come get them to go to his house. After three months had passed, it was the end of summer and her mom eventually showed up; she started drinking and a few years later became addicted to Adderall.

Olivia has moved around a lot; she has lived in 11 different houses and attended 14 different schools. Even though her mom was very protective and loving, she was self centered. She would move Olivia from school to school just because of someone picking on her. When Olivia was 15, they moved into a drug house in Mississippi where individuals had tricked her mom into a more in depth drug addiction. When Olivia was 17, they moved back to Michigan. A year later, Olivia found herself moving to Georgia to live with her cousin. “Everything was great in Georgia. My cousin was strict though, I wanted to experience more of life, but my cousin held me back.” Olivia decided to move back to Michigan and that’s when she found her home at CHM.

Olivia loves listening to all types of music. Out of all the genres of music, rock and electro are her top two. “Techno-fest has me hooked”, states Olivia. In the future, she wants to move to New York or California and do something dealing with music. If not a song writer, she would like to be a producer. For not liking rap, a few songs out of about ten that Olivia has written are raps, “I almost have a CD!” states Olivia. Her inspiration in her music writing is, “In the future, I intend to go back and get my sisters.”