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Pregnant with bills to pay

May 9, 2020

Farah and Abid had come to Melbourne last year. Farah was here to study on a student visa and Abid, her husband was on a dependent visa and working casually in a restaurant

A few months later, Farah found out she was pregnant and while they were grateful for the blessing, they were also worried about how they would manage the cost along with Farah's studies. Neverthless they started saving as much money as they could from Abid's income.

Feb 2020, Abid's income dried up due to the COVID19 situation. With less than 3 months remaining for Farah to have her baby, and hospitals quoting upwards of $7,000, panic started setting in. They had private insurance but it did not cover pregnancy. A friend suggested that they move to Sydney to look for work as there are more opportunities there, and he was happy to have them stay in his home for a while until they were able to get a job.

They grabbed this opportunity overnight and moved to Sydney in April. Abid was still struggling to find work and while Farah had worked out a payment plan with the hospitals, they still required her to make an upfront payment plus weekly payments for her check ups as she had complications and would need to do a C-Section.

Farah reached out to NZF for any assistance that could be provided, and she promised she would pay any amount back once they started earning again.

When we discussed the situation with Farah & Abid, it was clear that they were both very serious about the situation they were in. They had saved as much as they could over the past few months from the little income that Abid had. They were quite keen on not asking for a handout but rather a loan that they pay back once they have an income again.

Alhamdulillah, we helped them with Zakat to cover Farah's hospital expenses. Being Zakat, of course they did not need to pay it back. Farah was embarassed that they were in this situation and was extremely grateful for our help. She refused any other assistance and was confident that she & Abid will work things out.

We pray that Allah bless them with a healthy & pious child and strengthen them to come out of this situation soon. Ameen.

This story is based on a real person. Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy, and some images are AI-generated or stock.