Please help Makiya fulfill her dream of reuniting with her mother.

Assalamu Alaikum,

My name is Shaazlah Hafreth and the story I am about to share is of my friend, Makiya. When you live in Australia, far away from your family, your friends become your family - and Makiya is the older sister I never had.

We first met in 2014 after a mutual friend organized a food roster following Makiya's initial bowel surgery. Makiya's warm hospitality, her simple way of life and her patience in the face of hardship is admirable and has seen us grow in friendship over the years. 

Whenever she talks longingly of her mother back in Ethiopia, it wrings my heart that this soft spoken woman who has welcomed my family and I into her home like her own, is deprived of her mother, the one she needs the most, while she is hurting. 

I remembered the hadith:

An-Nu’man ibn Basheer reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The Muslims are like a single man. If the eye is afflicted, then the whole body is afflicted. If the head is afflicted, then the whole body is afflicted.”

Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2586, Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Muslim

By starting this campaign on her behalf, I hope to see one big dream of hers get fulfilled, both hers and of course, her mother's...Aameen.

Makiya's Story

Makiya Lata came to Australia from Egypt with her two little sons, as a refugee, in 2014. Soon after, she realized that her waning health was due to unexpected bowel cancer at the age of 37.

 Not long after a massive surgery to remove the cancer, and chemo-radiation, she found that the cancer had spread to her liver, entailing further surgery and continued chemotherapy. 

There was also a risk of her children being taken away from her by Child Services, while she was poorly but Alhamdulillah, she was able to get her husband down from Egypt after many struggles with immigration.

In December 2016,she underwent yet another surgery to remove a different tumour protruding into her bowel and is still recuperating from that onslaught while ploughing through her third year of chemo.

After 3 massive surgeries to remove three different cancers, and while undergoing chemotherapy the entire time, Makiya's journey is a rocky one. 

She is now at home in between hospital visits for three-weekly chemo infusions and routine CT scans, a PET scan and follow-ups.

She has kept her condition a secret from her mother whose sixth sense has been telling her otherwise. She constantly worries for her daughter and longs to see her.

From Australia to Ethiopia

But it is a long journey from Australia to Ethiopia and comes with its own baggages as Makiya is a refugee and her husband has tried but failed at securing a job here. They are currently managing to get through daily life on benefits.

Her mother is old and Makiya is sick. The horizon is unclear for both and as difficult as it is for her to get her mother down to Australia, should immigration even prove easy for a refugee to get down relatives, Makiya longs to embrace her and reassure her she is strong and coping.

Makiya wishes to be with her mother and siblings at least for a few weeks back in Ethiopia, in between chemo appointments. Please let us join together in helping her collect funds to make this travel possible.

It has been 12 years since she has last seen her mother!!!

About Me - Shaazlah

I am a regular stay-at-home mum with 2 young kids and of course a husband who is a Civil Engineer and we have been living in Australia for nearly 10 years Alhamdulillah. You can email me at shaazhaf@yahoo.com if you have any questions regarding Makiya and her story.

How YOU can help

Every penny spent for this cause will contribute towards Makiya's travel expenses as well as securing some source of financial security for her husband as he cares full-time for their two young sons while she is away.

Please donate and share this campaign with as many people as you can!

"The likeness of those who spend their wealth in Allah's way is as the likeness of a grain which grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. Allah gives increase manifold to whom He will. Allah is All Embracing, All Knowing." Al Quran 2:261

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