I want to tell you my story. My name is Marwa, I am 7 months old. Don’t be surprised that I was born only 7 months ago. Before that, it was just a number on my ID card. I was born when my son slept in my arms the first night he came home. The first month was hard for me and him.We were afraid of each other. He was afraid of everything - the new place, the house, the bed, and me. And I was afraid, too. I am not superwoman, and I was afraid of failure. So, yes, the first month was the most hard one for me and him, but now, after 7 months have passed, I know the meaning of true happiness, happiness that comes from the heart. I knew what it means to open my eyes and see him laughing at me with his little smile. I knew how it feels to feed him and have him feeding and making me happy. I knew the joy that had been absent from my life and extinguished a long time ago. When Yahya lightened my life, he lighted my heart, and with his innocence he erased all the pain that I felt before having him How can syuch a small kid, as small as my palm, to be my whole world? Yahya remained the center of my life, and anything can come after him. He erased all the pain I felt before with his innocence. The experience may remain a little scary and we may retreat, but honestly and with all my heart it is an experience worth the risk. And it is worth taking this step, not only for them, but for ourselves, for their embrace, because Yahya was the one who reconciled with Marwa and made me meet her after 41 years.

Hello, everyone. I am here to tell my story. I am a girl like any other girl who dreams of the white dress, the knight on a horse, home, and children. My dreams are simple. It was my destiny and God’s will for all this to happen. Thank God, I am very satisfied with God’s arrangements. I worked as a teacher at an orphanage. Every time I saw a child, I get attached to them, loved them, and felt like they were my children. I used to get extremely sad when I get attached to a kid, and then they walk away from class, and I would cry for many days and become attached again and again until I thought that I would continue to be attached like this to a child that was not mine. I wanted a child of my own. No one would take him away from me. I felt that my life was empty. There was no purpose in it, there was no life in the first place. It was only one color until I thought about going to the orphanage and go for a kafala, but I knew that it would be impossible because I am not married. I thought about do kafala for a child and visit him. The important thing is I hear the word “mama.” I want to be a mother like all women. I want to breastfeed, change diapers and raise them well. Before I went to the orphanage, I read a post by Shaima, Muhannad’s mother, that she got her son while she was divorced. She was like a moment of epiphany to me. I asked her, and she answered honestly and gave me hope. After a long time of despair, I decided and was determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a mother. I contacted Youmna Dahrouj, who helped me to know and understand everything about kafala. The next step was to inform my family of my decision, and a war started between me and them; they totally refused because they didn’t know much about how and why I would go for kafala. They see me as a girl from a rural community and this is against my traditions. I was determined to make my dream come true. I dreamed about her, about my daughter, whom I decided to name her Fatima, after my mother, may God have mercy on her. I wish the rejection was from my family only, but unfortunately even the Ministry of Social Solidarity rejected me. The day of the search was the worst day in my life. I swear I was going to die. I felt that my dreams were gone. I dreamed of Fatima by my side, crying, laughing, and playing, and I did not even see her. I dreamed of her everywhere with me. I would wake up all startled, thinking that I heard her crying, but I look next to me and find no one. That search day made me devasted and made my dreams all shattered. Do you know the angel who comes to rescue you from loss? This was Rasha Makki. This was my angel who came and touched my heart. I did not know her. I wrote a post, asking about kafala, she saw the post and send me one word. I felt that she was my sister or my mother. She said to me, “I saw your post. I feel you.” That word touched my heart. Someone gets upset because of you, and you don’t know anyone to help you. It was her, an angel sent from God to me. She helped me a lot. I felt like I was flying in the sky, and I was going to see Fatima soon. The dream of my life would come true. I chose her. I swear she was the oldest person there. I had mixed feelings. I felt afraid as soon as I took her away. Can I raise and make her happy or treat her well? I talked to her and she made me laugh, and I was hesistant about having her, when she kissed me. It is as if she was asking me not to leave her. The one who was with me said, “This is your daughter. She kissed you, and she doesn’t know you.” I said, “Okay” and left. When I came out of the room, I found her calling me “Mama”. I wanted to open my heart and hide her inside it. This is my daughter. This is Fatima. This is the one who will take me to heaven. And today, after five months, she is with me, the best five months of my life. I have a daughter who calls me her mother. She hugs me when I cry. I don’t know anything else but her hug. She colored my life with the taste of joy and happiness. May God bless and protect her, and may God strengthen me to raise her well and make her the happies girl in the world.

“My husband told me that my son was missing and I found him, and I told him, ‘This is my son. I don’t want anyone else.’ For 7 years, my husband and I thought of kafala, but we travelled and we stopped thinking about it. I lived outside Egypt for a while until I started hearing about kafala on Facebook. I was at a very difficult stage in my life due to estrangement and loneliness. I did Umrah and prayed to God a lot. My husband agreed when I spoke to him. I actually spoke to him, but his opinion was that we were waiting until we settled in Egypt. At that time, I decided to prepare myself well, and I read a lot about kafala and law, and I watched videos about it and how to do it. At that time, I decided that I would present the idea of kafala again to my husband and that we would not have to wait and we could do kafala of our son and he would stay with us and settle comfortably later in Egypt. He said, ‘Let us think.’ And throughout the month of Ramadan, he used to ask for guidance and pray a lot, and on the first day of Eid, he said, ‘Let’s go for it’. We begin kafala procedures, and I was so happy, so I sent to the foster care institution, which put me in touch with Amani in the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Giza, who helped me very much in the procedures. The procedures were easy, thank God, but the difficult thing was waiting. It was a dreadful feeling to just wait. We traveled after the committee approved us and waited. The security inquiry took 10 months. When the security approval came, I cried, and I squealed with joy. I went to Egypt for compulsory training and in the training, I met the greatest mothers, who taught us and understood us, Professor Marwa and Professor Noura from Yalla Kafala. I really learned a lot of things from them. They made us understand and knew how much we should be prepared for our children. The day I got the approval to see my son, I was over the moon. I couldn’t wait any longer and started looking for my son everywhere I go to. Until the Wydad orphanage informed me that there was a child that we could see, I went, feeling that he was my son before even meeting him. And the first time I saw him, oh God, it was like meant to be; the similarity of our characters and his, his features, and the comfort we felt talking to him. And from here the journey started. I breastfed my son and he became my son through breastfeeding. A different feeling as he breastfed and that he remained a part of me. Days passed and I got to spend Ramadan with him and buy him Eid clothes. The best Ramadan and Eid I have ever had, I have never been happier. I prayed Eid with my son for the first time. I forgot to tell you that everybody liked my son and would want to have him the first time they see him. Thanks to God, his travel procedures were completed easily and smoothly. My friends made a surprise for us. He is now living with us, filling our lives with joy and love. May God bless him and empower us to support and raise him to be a good person.