Reunited in Islam (Part 3)
We've recently told you how Claire followed Mujaheed into Islam and agreed to a nikah, how Mujaheed was unjustly arrested for being in a car with someone who had a gun (unbeknownst to him), and how he was frightened into pleading guilty for a crime he didn't commit.
What we didn't tell you yet is how it affected Mujaheed's family: Claire and their 5 children.
5 different school buses
Kimberly and Mujaheed have 5 kids together, ranging in age from a few months old to 11 years. She's taking care of them all alone - the only person to help in the past was her stepfather, but he passed away a few years ago.
Some of the kids need daycare, others go to school. Claire has to put every one of them on a separate bus each morning. Needless to say, that takes some time, so she's been regularly running late to work.
The result? Claire was fired from her job. Now she is unemployed, her husband is in prison, she has 5 mouths to feed, and she's got no family that she could lean on for help.
8 years old, but had the police visit 4 times
As you can imagine, losing their father - again - has been traumatic for Claire's children.
Her 8-year-old son has now seen the police come to his house 4 times. He got into a fight with kids at school when they started making comments about his dad going to prison.
Claire told us that he spends his time at home watching TV and sleeping. He eats little and cries a lot. The other kids don't have it a lot better. Claire doesn't have the time or money to do anything with them, so they spend all their time at home and are going a bit stir-crazy.
She promised that once she finds a new job, she'll take all the kids out for a meal... but when will that be? She is not sure.
How Tayba is helping
As you can see, the US prison system punishes far more than just the criminal (if the person is even a criminal to begin with). But alhamdulillah, it's not all bad news for Claire.
Since her husband's incarceration, she was able to get government funding to cover her rent as well as some food stamps. Tayba's Project Fatima team has connected her with a food bank.
We're teaching her how to use Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace to find cheap or free furniture and clothing. If there are expenses she has no way of covering, Tayba steps in to assist her financially.
Claire is a new convert to Islam - and alhamdulillah, we were able to introduce her a wife of another Tayba student in her area to help Claire learn her deen (especially about Ramadan as it was her first). We're also working on introducing her to the local Muslim community.
But the most important thing we can do for Claire is to simply be there for her. The sisters at Project Fatima provide her with much-needed emotional support and show her that the Muslim community has not abandoned her in the most difficult period of her life.
Once Claire is able to mentally cope with her situation, we also hope to help her obtain a professional education (a dream of hers from before her husband's incarceration).
As with all of our cases, our goal is to help Claire stand on her own two feet - and your support is what makes it all possible.
Protect our brothers & sisters from becoming another statistic
We may not be able to change the US prison system overnight. But we CAN ensure that our brothers and sisters affected by incarceration don't become another nameless statistic.
