When single mum Zafira lost a job offer due to COVID-19, her monthly costs became too much and she fell behind on her rent payments. When she felt she had nowhere to turn, she turned to you.
Here’s how your Zakat helped Zafira get on top of her debt and gave her the chance to rebuild her future.
It’s just me and my 19-year-old daughter at home. We’ve always struggled for money, but thankfully we found a way to just about make things work. Life was finally looking up… until COVID-19 hit.
I’d just landed a new job at a school, which meant we were closer to financial stability than we’d ever been. I was planning to tell my daughter she didn’t need to help me pay the bills anymore. But during lockdown, the school withdrew their job offer. They either didn’t need, or couldn’t afford, to hire me anymore.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my daughter’s working hours were reduced and, eventually, she lost her retail job.
I had to rely on Universal Credit for all our bills, food shopping and daily essentials – but the money I got didn’t even cover our rent. It wasn’t long before I started missing rent payments and fell into arrears.
When I applied for a hardship grant from National Zakat Foundation (NZF), I was desperate, with no one to turn to.
Thanks to the will of God and the Zakat givers who give through the NZF platform, NZF agreed to pay £2,500 towards my rent arrears.
That not only paid off my arrears, but it gave me the chance to try to find another job and start rebuilding our future – without worrying about how I’d put food on our table today.
I’m just so grateful that your Zakat was able to get me through this difficult time. Who knows what we’d be facing now if it wasn’t for your support. I’m not completely out of the difficult times, but this help gave me some relief from the mental anguish and stress I was facing. People think this kind of poverty doesn’t exist in the UK, but it does. It happened to me. And I’m one of the lucky few who was able to get the support they needed. I’ll never forget the help your Zakat gave me, and I hope one day I’m in a position to give back.
This post is based on a true story.
