I can’t remember how old I was when I knew about it, but it was roughly between the first and third years of primary school. My mother told me that we are not your real mother and father. Your father's name is such-and-such, and your mother’s name is such-and-such, and they died in an accident. Since that moment, my heart was racing and felt like I am drowned in a sea of thoughts. I kept asking myself the real question, which was: If they died in an accident, how did I stay alive? I was shocked to my very core. The shock was brutal and difficult. I don’t remember how many days I cried before sleep because it must have been years and I am not exaggerating if I said this because I could not imagine that I could lose my mother and my father who I am with now. The issue has affected me psychologically, physically and socially, and I feel that at this time I have become silent and do not talk much, and I have not been able to form relationships with those around me. I also stopped eating and threw away food. I barely ate and I wasn't even hungry. These are things I noticed when I grew up a little, but when I was young, I didn't understand why or I wasn't even interested in understanding why. All I could think about was, "We get punished when we do something wrong. Surely I'm a bad person, so this happened to me." And sometimes I feel that I seriously don't deserve anything. I don't deserve what they do to me. I don't deserve their love because as I said, I'm a monster. I wasn’t much popular because of my appearance, my weight, and my way of doing things. There are many things that made me unable to determine whether my childhood was good or not. My problem is that they never helped me with this matter. I don’t know if they thought that this was normal or that I would forget or what the truth was. I don’t know. I wanted them to tell me the whole truth and I would have accepted it as I accepted what they said before because I certainly had no other choice, but at least I needed someone to tell me the truth. This may be difficult, but it is not my fault, and I am not as bad as I thought, and there are many people like me. What I denounced the most is that every time I come to ask what exactly happened, they yelled at me for asking. For them, my questions mean for that they are not enough. I just want to know, and this is my right to know. I live in the hope that I will meet them when I die, and I will meet my mother in heaven, and I keep imagining what we would look like when we meet, and that thought and dream comfort me because at the moment when this happens, I will not be afraid again. I will not be sad again. I will not lose anyone else. If I decided to tell them that now, they will be upset. I just want them to understand that just as any father and mother love their children with the same love as each other, I can also love two families with the same amount of love, and that they both represent many things to me, because in the end, this is what made me the person I am now. If I go for kafala of a real child, I would feel that I am the happiest person in the world, because I am sure that I would give him all the love that I have. I am sure that I will read books or learn what is the right way for him to be raised well so that he can become a good person. He won’t feel inferior in any way, and of course he has complete freedom to miss his biological family, and I will respect that very much, and I will be happy to answer all his questions and discuss them and make him understand that his being like this does not mean anything other than that he is a special person to me, and that my love for him is unconditional. I love him because he is the person he is, regardless of anything else. This will surely make him love himself, and this will give him confidence not only in himself but in those around him as well. I know that the whole matter will be a traumatic experience at first but I will take him to a psychological counselor if I felt that he has dark thoughts. The most important thing for me is that he is able to share all his feelings about anything freely and without fear or such. Kafala in general is a beautiful thing, but it also has negative effects, and any child, no matter how big he is, deserves to know his truth, love it, accept it, and feel love from those around him. Also, the name of the author of the story was changed based on her desire.

“Despite that some of the officials asked me to return her and choose someone else, I couldn’t because God asked me to have her in a dream. I would definitely do the same, if I got back in time” I am Hanan from Sohag, married for 22 years, and I thought about kafala after five years of marriage and I approached my husband many times about the matter, but he refused every time. When my father, may he rest in peace, died, I felt lonely even though my mother and sisters were present, and I felt that I would be alone for the rest of my life. I was afraid of old age and afraid that I would die and no one would be with me. So, I talked to my husband about kafala again, and again he refused. However, this time I was determined and I asked him to make the choice between accepting kafala or divorcing me, so he desperately agreed. Right the next day, I went and chose Rahma. In fact, God was the one who chose her for me because the day before that I saw her in a dream, and I received Rahma within a week, and the process took no time. It was the most beautiful day of my life. When I heard her calling me “Mama” for the first time, I felt extremely happy. She was bouncing like a child, and every day she was growing before my eyes, happiness and the love between us increased. I discovered after a short while that my daughter had special needs. I thanked God for his blessing, and I did not think of a moment to abandon her, even though some of the officials asked me to return her and choose another, I couldn’t because God asked me to have her in a dream. I would definitely do the same, if I got back in time. After 10 years, I decided to go for kafala again, and thank God I came forward, and after so many procedures, I received Mariam, and it was the same longing that I felt the day I received Rahma, and Rahma was very happy with Mariam. I was so excited and prepared everything for her. I got her new clothes, food, dolls, and sweets. May God bless them, I was completely happy, and I loved them. I felt that my family had grown, knowing that Rahma was the one who chose Mariam. Praise be to God, he honored me with my daughters and Yalla Kafala, and I will be next to our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in Paradise”.

”There are people who told me that you can’t go for a kafala because she is of a noble lineage, and others told me that she will grow up like her family, but I know that this was nonsense, and that she is the best girl in the world with us as her parents.” My name is Raheel, a wife and a mother. I have four children, including my daughter from Kafala. I had the idea of kafala in my head for a long time, even after I got married and gave birth to two sons and a daughter. I used to think that there were thousands of girls in the homes who couldn’t find love and warmth. My heart ached and I thought about kafala, and they kept telling me that I already have 3 children, refusing my idea. I don’t have any siblings and I was afraid that my daughter would be alone too, so I decided to choose her sister, and I decided not to listen to anyone and just go for it. At that time, I found Yalla Kafala website and contacted them. I thought that they would refuse me because I have 3 children, but Rasha Mekky said that these rules changed and she supported me until I found my daughter. When I started to go through the process of kafala, I felt that God loves me, because it was the fastest kafala case ever; within less than two months of submitting the papers, my daughter was in my arms, and because I love my husband very much and love whoever loves him, I loved Hoor and chose her; she ran to him, hugged him and stayed in his arms. It felt like she chose her father, and he willingly decided to be her father. I cannot describe my happiness when I received the birth certificate. Hoor entered our house and filled it with joy and happiness. She became a beautiful sister to my children. There isn’t any special treatment, they are all my kids and we all love each other. She is still too young to know the truth, but I will start telling her stories about her birth & childhood, and after that I must let her face the whole world with courage and confidence. I really wish people would just stop judging our children and change their perspective about kafala, and people sponsor children in their homes because the children’s place is our homes, and the prophet said, “I and the one who takes care of an orphan are like this close in Paradise”