On the run

"Salam sister Thank you for your generous help, in getting me these vouchers .. You have helped me in these tough times may Allah reward you and your loved ones in this holy month of ramadan and protect you .. Salam sister ramadan moubarak x"

This was a message from Clara when we assisted her this Ramadan.

This is Clara's story.

Clara is a revert. A single mum with an autistic daughter.

Her story is one that is a nightmare for many. A victim of violence not only by her partner, but also by her own family. She has been on the run for 14 months now, and will likely be on the run for a while. A real story of a sister who is bounced around in the system, living week to week not knowing when she will be on the street or when she will have food for her daughter.

Clara was referred to NZF by a non-Muslim organisation who was assisting her with housing for the past few months, but are unable to do so for much longer. Subhan Allah it took our case worker a few days to understand everything that was going on with Clara. Her partner had tricked her into taking all their Centrelink payments, and also took away their car. He filed a case with the police of her being negligent towards their daughter and being mentally unstable. After speaking to her current case worker at the other organisation, we came to understand this was not true, however, her partner collaborated with her family to frame her. When she tried to resolve things with her family, they turned abusive towards her, with her own sister physically injuring her. When she reported this to the police, her family claimed she tried to self-harm herself and she got referred to a mental health specialist. She got reported again by her family for being negligent towards her daughter, and she lost custody. Her partner got custody of her daughter and started to make things worse for her. Clara could see her daugher losing weight, and her autism was getting worse.

Clara could not rely on the system and ran away with her daughter into hiding.

For months she lived in refuges with the homeless so her family could not find her, using fake names and trying to stay under the radar until her daughter was really sick and she needed to take her to hospital. This was when she was referred to another organisation, who helped her move states as the best way for her to try and get a new lease on life.

Clara currently has multiple legal issues she needs to resolve, get access back to the Centrelink payments for her daughter, which are still going to her partner. She also needs funds to find a place to live, look after her daughter and be able to put food on their table. Despite all this, when we spoke to Clara, she just asked for food vouchers as this was her main concern at the moment. Putting food on the table for her daughter.

Of course, we assisted, and her response was

"Salam sister Thank you for your generous help, in getting me these vouchers .. You have helped me in these tough times may Allah reward you and your loved ones in this holy month of ramadan and protect you .. Salam sister ramadan moubarak x"

SubhanAllah, after all this, she is still grateful and shows gratitude without demanding more assistance.

Nevertheless, we will be working closely with Clara through our Healing Forward and Brighter Futures program to get her through this patch of her life so she can come out on the other side standing on her own two feet with her beautiful daughter.

Thank you for paying your Zakat locally. It is through your Zakat that we, as a community, are able to provide peope like Clara with a safety net, when it seems like the world is against them.