We miss daddy: Please help to reunite our family!
Donation protected
My name is Brittany Mbaye. Let me tell you a bit about my family. I am married to a wonderful man named Tijan, and he is an immigrant from Senegal, Africa. We have been married for 6 years and have four beautiful children ages 12, 6, 3, and 1. Za’nyah is our 12 year old. She is currently an 8th grader and enjoys dancing and reading. Our 6 year old is Layla, and she has a “heart of gold”; she loves coloring, singing (although she is not very good) and reading. Mika is our only boy, and he is 3. He LOVES tools, specifically lawn tools! Binta, our baby, is 16 months old, and she is the boss! Our children and I reside in Willoughby, Ohio. I work full time for one of the major hospital systems in the area as a secretary.
Sadly, due to the immigration policies in place here in the U.S., our family has been separated. My husband now lives and works in Welland, Canada. As a result, we lost our beautiful home, and most of our belongings were placed into storage. The children and I live in a small apartment on a meager budget. Despite my husband’s efforts to continue to provide financial support, his minimal income and the value of Canadian currency leave him falling short. Our circumstances frustrate us because we are both hard working people who simply want to provide for our family and be together. We want nothing more than to be together, so the children and I are forced to move to Canada in September. But, independent efforts to save for the move have been impossible. I am living and working as a single parent, struggling just to pay the rent, utilities, storage, daycare, and the cost of food along with life’s many other expenses. I have resorted to donating plasma on a regular basis, but it is still never enough. The separation from their dad has been very stressful for our kids. This is the first time my children have missed holidays with daddy or even missed him at all. I have managed to make trips so that we can see him, but these trips are also a huge financial burden for our family. Tijan is living in shared housing, and they have a strict no children policy. Due to this policy, we have to stay in hotels when we go there which is expensive. This has been extremely difficult on all of our children and the stress has been overwhelming to me. My son just recently started wetting the bed and wanting to sleep with me all the time so I “don’t ever leave.” Layla has been overly emotional; crying all the time. Za’nyah’s grades have dropped, and she has been displaying signs of anxiety. This has been traumatic for our children. Seeing my children unhappy and balancing everything has been overwhelming for me.
My husband and I have been working tirelessly just to be able to live, but we want desperately for our family to be together. We want very badly to be able to have a home in Canada, so that our family can be reunited and get back to some sort of normalcy. Unfortunately with us just barely being able to maintain, it has made it nearly impossible to set aside monies to move. If there is any way you can help our family, we would appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your time.
Sadly, due to the immigration policies in place here in the U.S., our family has been separated. My husband now lives and works in Welland, Canada. As a result, we lost our beautiful home, and most of our belongings were placed into storage. The children and I live in a small apartment on a meager budget. Despite my husband’s efforts to continue to provide financial support, his minimal income and the value of Canadian currency leave him falling short. Our circumstances frustrate us because we are both hard working people who simply want to provide for our family and be together. We want nothing more than to be together, so the children and I are forced to move to Canada in September. But, independent efforts to save for the move have been impossible. I am living and working as a single parent, struggling just to pay the rent, utilities, storage, daycare, and the cost of food along with life’s many other expenses. I have resorted to donating plasma on a regular basis, but it is still never enough. The separation from their dad has been very stressful for our kids. This is the first time my children have missed holidays with daddy or even missed him at all. I have managed to make trips so that we can see him, but these trips are also a huge financial burden for our family. Tijan is living in shared housing, and they have a strict no children policy. Due to this policy, we have to stay in hotels when we go there which is expensive. This has been extremely difficult on all of our children and the stress has been overwhelming to me. My son just recently started wetting the bed and wanting to sleep with me all the time so I “don’t ever leave.” Layla has been overly emotional; crying all the time. Za’nyah’s grades have dropped, and she has been displaying signs of anxiety. This has been traumatic for our children. Seeing my children unhappy and balancing everything has been overwhelming for me.
My husband and I have been working tirelessly just to be able to live, but we want desperately for our family to be together. We want very badly to be able to have a home in Canada, so that our family can be reunited and get back to some sort of normalcy. Unfortunately with us just barely being able to maintain, it has made it nearly impossible to set aside monies to move. If there is any way you can help our family, we would appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your time.
Organizer
Brittany Polk
Organizer
Willoughby, OH
