Hello, my name is Fatima Maiga, and I am 17 years old, and I live with my single mom, Khadijah Maiga (names changed for privacy reasons). After living in a homeless shelter for 5 years, we are now in an affordable housing complex where we are currently struggling to pay our hospital, rent, and utilities bills and are on the brink of eviction after receiving a 14 day notice to vacate the unit. I am seeking your help in supporting me and my mom during this very difficult time in our lives.  

To provide some background, my mom is an undocumented immigrant from Burkina Faso. She has been in the U.S since 2003 and she still hasn’t been able to adjust her immigration status despite multiple efforts and years of hoping and waiting—making it hard for her to get a job. Her other children, my siblings, are living in Ghana and Burkina Faso and are not able to support us financially. Not only that but my mom's English skills are limited limiting the job opportunities available for her. We have been struggling to pay for our expenses for the last few months because my mom is unemployed, and I am in high school full-time unable to work full-time.   

Previously my mom was working outside as a street vendor, however business had a lot slower, especially after the pandemic. My mom's stall would also be repeatedly broken into with her merchandise stolen leading to less inventory and damaged merchandise (image provided below of the cart destroyed).  

My mom is currently not working because she is in pain and hasn’t been able to get another job. Along with dealing with multiple chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, she also has a lot of pain in her right arm making it hard to move. My mom currently has limited health insurance since she is undocumented, despite that we have gone to the doctor for her treatment and have since been dealing with almost $3000 in hospital fees. Our rent and electricity bills have also been too expensive for us to afford, so they just keep piling up. We currently owe more than $5000 dollars in rent and $2000 dollars in electricity bills. We would appreciate any help that is given.   

With the money raised from this LaunchGood, we hope to be able to pay our overdue expenses along with our other expenses as my mom recovers from her health and seeks other job and career development opportunities. If you would like to donate in other ways besides this LaunchGood, you can also support us through our Cashapp ($AmsataMaiga). If you have any resources, job opportunities, etc. you can also send them to our email at: amsatamaiga029@gmail.com. Any support and/or prayers is appreciated. Thank you all and may Allah bless you.  

A Message from Musfika Moshahid (who is fundraising on her behalf): 

Hello and Salaam, my name is Musfika and I am the Women's Program Coordinator at the Muslim Community Network (MCN), a nonprofit organization located in NYC working to empower the Muslim community. I got to know Sister Khadijah and her daughter Fatima through my work and thus why I'm hoping to fundraise on their behalf. I have known Sister Khadijah and her daughter for almost 3 years now.  We first met when Sister Khadijah served as a babysitter for our Muslim Women's Program. She and her daughter have since supported MCN as paid childcare for many of our other women's events as well. At MCN, we have assisted and worked with Khadijah and her daughter for more than 2 years now hiring her as childcare, supporting her street vending business, referring her to other organizations and resources, and fundraising for her and providing her with direct cash assistance when possible. However, these short-term band aid solutions have not been enough, and I am now looking to our community to support Sister Khadijah and her daughter. We hope to raise $5,000+ for her so she can pay off her overdue bills and be safe from eviction as she works to recover from her arm pain and get back on her feet. 

Sister Khadijah has been a consistent supporter and friend to me personally and I would love for you all to support her. Khadijah is one of the kindest people I know and despite having little, she is one of the most giving people. She is someone despite having so many things going on, will call me regularly to check on me, and see how I'm doing! She is just an incredibly warm and kindhearted person. I urge you to please support her and her daughter today.