Torn
Yusuf was torn. His wife on one side and his elderly parents on the other.
Yusuf's parents had arrived in Australia 2 months ago and applied for asylum. Initially his wife was supportive and welcomed them into their house and was willing to look after them until they received their permanent visa. Gradually however, his wife started getting less tolerant and first asked that his parents not use their second bedroom and instead sleep on mattresses in the lounge. She then started to insist that they don't eat with them at the same table, and her most recent outburst was to ask them to manage their own food and pay rent.
Yusuf's wife knew his parents were elderly, spoke no English and had no source of income. Yet, she was now threatening them with homelessness. Recently when Yusuf's father broke down in front of him, and told him they will leave as they didn't want to cause issues between him and his wife.
Yusuf just didn't know what to do.
He started calling up homelessness agencies to get advice on how he could ensure his parents had a place to stay and one of these agencies referred him to NZF. When our case officer received the case, she spoke to Yusuf and his wife to see if she could reach an amicable solution. We were able to come to an agreement where if NZF provided some ongoing financial support to cover rent & material aid for Yusuf's parents, his wife was supportive of them moving to a bigger house and his parents could stay in a separate bedroom and contribute rent to cover costs & food. While there are multiple issues here to address, our priority is to assist the person who is in need and Zakat eligible, who are the parents first.
We pray that this might be a solution that works for Yusuf, his parents and his wife, until his parents receive their permanent visa and are eligible for benefits. While it is extremely unfortunate that Yusuf was in a situation to choose between possibly losing his wife or homelessness for his parents, unfortunately our community does not want to acknowledge that we have a growing elderly population that have no where to turn to for support. There is much work to be done in this space so we are able to provide more holistic support to such cases.
Through paying your Zakat locally, we were able to save Yusuf's elderly parents from homelessness. Continue paying your Zakat locally so we can provide those in need with the love & care they deserve.
