Mona’s children

«She was my everything», he told me Ane showed me her photo. A lovely, young woman in her twenties. Mona was no more though. In an attempt to save her family from poverty, the Indian mother of four had decided to become a surrogate mother. At the fertility clinic Rotunda she was accepted and subjected to IVF treatment. Seven months due she became ill and went into labour. She died giving birth to twins for a couple from Norway. In the tragic event, one of the twins also died.

While the couple lost one of their babies, Mona’s four children - the youngest only a few months when Mona got pregnant with the twins - lost their mother and only breadwinner.

I met Mona’s husband  Naeem while I was researching my book on surrogacy, The Global Baby. He was very sick and died shortly after. The children are now orphans, two of them live with their aging grandmother in the chawls of Mumbai. The other two now live in a children’s home. The youngest one, Asha (not her real name) never got to know her heroic mother. She is now six years old and is doing well in school, but her chances to study further are scarce and life in poverty often lead girls to find jobs at early age or they get married off.

I have tried to help them a little, but my contribution is just a drop in the ocean. I would like to get Asha and her brothers into a good school. I would also like to set up a fund to cover all their school related expenses. In India, volunteer social worker Hanisha has visited them with gifts like school equipment and we have paid medical bills. Hanisha keeps me updated on the children. If we manage to raise funds for Mona’s children, the money will be transferred to an account in India and school related expenses will be paid directly to the children’s school. Expenses related to their health, clothes or religious holidays will be considered by Hanisha and me and covered where we find it suitable. But the main purpose of the fund is education.

They don’t have the love of their mother and father anymore. But they have us and they can still have a safe future. Mona tried to help a Norwegian couple in becoming parents, instead her own children lost their parents. With your help Mona’s children might have a chance!



 ‌  Read the whole story in the Norwegian daily VG and watch video interviews here! ‌ ‌