By Diaspora News
A FAMILY has told of its continuing heartbreak and agony over a two-year battle to repatriate their “mother, sister, aunt and cousin” who died in the United Kingdom in 2021 and has yet to be laid to rest.
The eSwatini family recently launched another GoFundMe appeal in a bid to find closure and send Sifiso Dlamini “back to her children, who for 20 years, had not seen their mother since she made the sacrifice to go work in a foreign country for the sake of her children”.
“For nearly 2 years, the Dlamini family have been trying to reconcile with the great loss of their mother, sister, aunt and cousin Sifiso Dlamini who unfortunately passed away on the 9th of November 2021,” they said.
“Since then, we as a family (were) not been able to process her repatriation at the time due to an error caused by the registrar that delayed receiving her Death Certificate.”
The family are looking to raise £6,000 for the repatriation of Sifiso’s remains which are still in the UK.
An initial appeal at the time of her passing proved abortive as all the money had to be returned to donors after a registration error delayed the release of Sifiso’s death certificate.
“ … due to the delay and the rules by which money can be received via GoFundMe, that certificate was fundamental in receiving funding as well as getting her processed to be sent back home,” the family explained in the new funding appeal.
Second anniversary of Sifiso’s passing
“It was to our distress, and even greater dismay, that our inability to prove our cause to GoFundMe in time, all such fundraising was reversed, and all proceeds that were given had returned to their original donors due to the verification of the GoFundMe needing the certificate we didn’t have.”
The family said on the second anniversary of Sifiso’s passing, they could no longer delay her repatriation and needed help raising the necessary funding.
They said Sifiso had worked in the UK with “with every intention of going back to her children and home country, but that reality would not be fulfilled”.
“Her eldest son especially grieves in waiting for his chance to lay his mother to rest in a place where the rest of her children can visit her, be closer to her and see her home once again,” reads a statement accompanying the GoFundMe appeal.
“Her mother still grieves for her daughter at the risk of her own health, unable to see her child once more. And her daughters who were her mirror images grieve the promises and good times they couldn’t truly let rest in their memories knowing that their mother has not rested in their homeland.
“This situation has brought this family more distress and turmoil in ways unimaginable to still have Sifiso not with them.”
The family added; “Sifiso’s family deserves to see their mother again, even though it is not in the way they had wished and hoped for when she was alive with us.
“We hope to fulfil their wishes and send her home now so that they may meet again, having this come to a close, to give us all a chance to heal, and providing a proper place for Sifiso to be at rest.
“We sincerely hope you consider, donating, sharing and supporting this GoFundMe as our time is short. We thank you in advance for listening to our plea and we pray that you all stay safe and take care of one another.”
