A Kiwi mother and daughter trapped in Iran with no money after their holiday was affected by Covid-19 restrictions are on their way home, thanks to the generosity of the public.
Bushra Alkhafaji and her 15-year-old daughter Nada Alibrahimy have been trapped in Isfahan for around a month, away from family and with no funds left for food and temporary accommodation, due to intercity travel restrictions imposed by the Iran government and flights home being cancelled.
Family in Iran could not afford to help financially.
“Right now it's a big struggle, we're unable to go out and it's pretty dangerous and this coronavirus is kind of getting out of hand…we're unable to afford a place to stay at soon and we're unable to afford warmth, food,” Miss Alibrahimy told 1 NEWS last week.
After a story aired on 1 NEWS about their desperate situation and plea for help from New Zealand’s Government, a Givealittle a page was created.
Donations have reached more than $8000 in just two days.
The community effort to get Ms Alkhafaji and her daughter back home to Wellington has been led by TVNZ employee Hamed Taghadosi, who saw the story, and Jonathan Cutts, a leader at St Hilda’s Anglican Church, where Ms Alkhafaji is a cleaner for a couple of hours a week.
Friends of Mr Taghadosi helped the pair travel nearly 450 kilometres to get to Tehran airport, where they are waiting to board their first flight to Doha, Qatar.
After that, the family will be in transit in Qatar for 21 hours waiting for their flight to Auckland, which will take nearly 17 hours.
Mr Taghadosi has estimated $8450 is needed to pay for their transport in Iran, flights, food and transit accommodation.
St Hilda’s Anglican Church has underwritten the rescue effort, until Givealittle funds can be accessed.
"Any funds in excess of what is needed will be donated to Red Cross Refugees service," he said on the Givealittle page.
Sahra Alibrahimy, the Wellington-based daughter of Ms Alkhafaji, posted on the page that she was thankful for the financial support, kind words and prayers.
"My mother and sister are so excited that they can finally come back home...Thank you for sharing the Givealittle page we are so close to the goal!" she wrote.
Ms Alibrahimy’s also been in financial hardship as a result of the situation due to having to pay for her mum’s rent on top of her own.
Ms Alkhafaji had budgeted money for the six week Iran trip, and flights were paid for by her Iran-based daughters.
She was warned by Work and Income before she left for Iran that her benefit would be cut if she travelled overseas.
A spokesperson for the Social Development ministry said it would not reinstate Ms Alkhafaji’s benefit while she was away.
In the Middle East, Covid-19 has had the largest impact on Iran.
The country’s reported about 4000 people have died and more than 60,000 people have been infected, but US researchers claim with modelling of the virus’ spread that of late last month, an estimated 15,000 people had died.
SHARE ME