Please help us raise funds for a sister suffering from severe mental and physical disabilities. All of her family is back home in war-torn Syria. She has no support here and desperately needs our help. ***If you are in Canada, please send your donation through e-transfer to help us avoid losing some of the funds to transaction fees. Send your e-transfer to givehope@habibah.org. Your donation will be added to the total of our fundraiser.
EDITED ON OCTOBER 16, 2022 TO ADD:
Fundraising isn’t easy. Then again, nothing in this dunia is. Alhamdulilah. What I will say is that this sister has now been in therapy for almost two months and she is doing EXCEPTIONALLY WELL ma shaa Allah! I’ll be honest, we didn’t know what to expect because sometimes when someone experiences such a bad crisis, things get much worse before they start to get better. But Allah had a different plan for this sister and the tawfiq we’ve witnessed her receive in her healing journey has brought us to tears on many occasions. Her commitment to her well-being is refreshing; she shows up and does the work every week with so much determination and passion. She’s not taking any of this for granted.
So, we are asking you to check to see if you have some spare change and to click the link below to gift this sister with a few more therapy sessions. She’s not done yet, she needs more time but the funds are running low. Anything you can give is so greatly appreciated.
We know having people ask for money can get really redundant and even annoying. Trust, us, we know. And are sorry if our pushing for this cause is creating stress for you, but when we’re called, in shaa Allah we answer the call. So here we are, doing our part. Will you do yours?
ORIGINAL APPEAL:
We have been contacted by a sister in crisis in Ontario, Canada. She is 44 years old with multiple mental health diagnoses, including Major Depressive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Autism. Because of her horrific history of domestic violence, abuse, abandonment, and mental, physical, and sexual abuse, she has deep-rooted trauma.
On top of that, her physical disabilities exacerbate the immense turmoil she is currently experiencing. Her physical disabilities, including osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and extreme heat sensitivity, prevent her from performing the simplest of tasks; things most of us take for granted like doing basic housework, practising personal hygiene, or preparing meals are simply beyond her capacity at this time. She just isn’t able to take care of herself at all right now.
This sister has almost no support. All of her family is back home in war-torn Syria which is also taking its toll on her. Her husband, who also suffers from trauma, is not getting the mental health support he needs and is unable to care for his wife. A few weeks ago, the sister’s mental health crisis reached a tipping point and she desperately needed help. Her husband was overwhelmed by her level of dysregulation and was unable to help her. This caused her to start banging her head on the wall; he panicked and left. The sister spiralled into an emotional meltdown after feeling abandoned by her only support, leading her to self-harm by cutting. Realising she was in imminent danger, she called an ambulance and admitted herself into the mental health ward at the hospital where she stayed for one week and ended up catching Covid.
The fact that this sister called the ambulance and admitted herself into the hospital shows us that she was not ready to end her life. She has expressed her commitment to getting the help she needs so she can finally begin healing the devastating wounds that have kept her stuck in a cycle of unbearable pain and despair. She shared she is ready to take the necessary steps to discover her purpose and find the tools and resources to help herself overcome her challenges. She is prepared to do the work. The sister acknowledged her childlike disposition and her need for therapeutic intervention aligned with that during the initial intake and assessment with our consulting therapist.
Everything is in place to support this sister; the only barrier at this time is funding. She cannot afford therapy and waitlists for government-funded support range from 12-24 months, time she simply does not have given the severity of her mental illness–she is in crisis! The sister is on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) which barely covers her basic needs, her husband’s job is not enough to make ends meet, and she and her husband are in debt.
Based on our needs assessment, we feel that the sister requires an initial six months of therapy to stabilise. As such, we are looking to raise $4200.
We ask that each of you give something, even if you can only afford $1. Every little bit helps. Allah tells us in the Qur’an “Verily with hardship is ease.” All ease is from Allah and if He chooses us to be a means of facilitating ease for someone suffering such hardship, that is a tremendous gift to us. This is an opportunity for each of us to help give this sister hope and allow her to rebuild her life after the ongoing struggles she’s been facing for years.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has told us “Whoever relieves a Muslim of a burden from the burdens of the world, Allah will relieve him of a burden from the burdens on the Day of Judgement. And whoever helps ease a difficulty in the world, Allah will grant him ease from a difficulty in the world and in the Hereafter.” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi)
May this act of selfless generosity and giving be a means of your attaining the highest of heavens and the pleasure of Allah. Ameen.
Was-salaam,
The Habibah Foundation Canada Team