In memory of Margaret's & Celine's spouses

My name is Sharon, and I am asking for assistance for the families of my two "host daughters" from India who stayed with my family in Nebraska for a few years. An unbelievable double tragedy has struck their young families. Margaret's husband Ashish died from metastatic cancer at the young age of 39 on their 7th anniversary in January 2024, leaving Margaret and their two children (ages 3 and 5) devastated. He was a loving husband and father, and was a social worker caring for so many other families in Northeast India. Margaret rents space for a tiny hair salon in an area of town which never rebounded after COVID-19, and she is now struggling both economically and emotionally. Ashish and Margaret bonded with a strong Christian faith, as well as a call to care for others. Her parents were subsistence rice farmers on tribal land raising 9 children. Margaret never had the chance to go to K-12 schools, but she wanted to make sure her younger siblings had an education. She worked from age 9 to help support her family, and on a sliding scale fee was able to put them into Catholic schools in her mountainous rural area because public schools were not always available and did not provide the education that her siblings would need. She worked with Jesuits cooking meals and cleaning their homes and schools in rural villages to earn a meager wage. With the help of friends, she was able to obtain a GED equivalent and a beauty stylist certificate which enabled her to work in salons to continue helping her siblings. After she married, she and her husband had been raising their two children as well as her niece in a small rented apartment. In addition, they assumed the K-12 educational expenses of Margaret's siblings and Ashish's nephew, and then continued with post-high school educational expenses for Margaret's 3 youngest siblings. Ashish had a longer term plan to build a small structure on a tiny plot of land he purchased on a loan in a safer area of town so that they could have a couple rooms to live in (about 520 square feet) with a small hair salon and a couple small bedrooms for college boarders. All her life Margaret took responsibility for her younger siblings while trying to become financially self-sustaining to assist her family. With her husband's passing, her income is not even enough to cover his funeral expenses, her family's living expenses, rent/utilities for her current salon space, the balance of the loan, and her siblings' education.

Then... tragically, 2 weeks after Ashish passed away, my other "host daughter" Celine, one of the younger sisters of Margaret, felt the same grief. She and her baby returned home to another state in India after Ashish's funeral service while her husband stayed behind to help drive Margaret around to handle post-funeral affairs. Three days later, he struggled to breathe, and upon being rushed to the hospital, he was declared dead. This was a horrible blow to Celine and her baby, and a terrible burden on the whole grieving extended family. As a driver, Celine's husband (approximately age 27) was the sole support of their young family. Even though Celine completed a college degree in India, discrimination against tribal members and persons with disabilities (she uses crutches from having polio as a child) prevented her from getting a job commensurate with her education.

THEREFORE, I am asking for Go-Fund-Me assistance to help Margaret with expenses and to build a simple structure for her home and hair salon in a safe area so that she can financially care for her pre-school age children and a niece as a single parent and continue assisting her siblings in the middle of their education. This fund would also assist Celine and her baby until she can get a job to support herself as a single parent.