Help Our Family Go Back Home

by Jeffrey Cervantes in Rotherham, England, United Kingdom

Help Our Family Go Back Home

Total raised £0

£2,800 target 32 days left
0% 0 supporters
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 18th March 2025 at 7:33am

Iʼm raising £2,800 to Help Our Family Go Back Home to the Philippines

by Jeffrey Cervantes in Rotherham, England, United Kingdom

Hi, my name is Jeffrey, 42 years old, and am living in the UK with my family for a little over 5 years now. Originally from the Philippines, me and my wife Maria decided to head over to the UK to find and make a better future for our kids. Things were looking bright back in 2019, but then as we all know, COVID hit. This global pandemic hit us, and hit us hard. With no real income we struggled to keep things together with, at that time, our 2 young daughters. We struggled but we never gave up. Our faith in God strengthened and found hope. Even though we dried up all our savings and Investments, we persevered. I worked part time whenever I can just to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table. Deep in our hearts we knew that God is still with us.

During all this, little did we know that my father back in the Philippines had a different struggle. My mom purposely did not tell me how bad my father's condition was. I reckon to not add any more burden. 23rd of August 2020, as we're attending online church we had the dreaded call. My father has come to be with the Lord. It was hard. It was painful. But what made it even more difficult is the fact that we couldn't go home due to the lockdown and of course due to the fact that we didn't have the resources to actually fly back home. Fly home to pay our respects but also to console my mother and brother. Share the grief of having lost a loved one. It was hard, but we persevered.

I eventually landed a job, late 2021. A proper job. At almost the same time my wife revealed that we were pregnant. Things were looking up. A decent paying job and another member to our family. A new hope for the future. The sun is rising. That's until the 21st of December 2023.

My mother in-law was up for a very simple throat surgery in the Philippines. At that time, it was still considered low risk. The actual surgery went well. My mother in-law was in recovery. Then all of a sudden, she developed a complication and had difficulty breathing. In a few minutes she was gone as well. None of us knew what happened. None of us expected this to happen. No now. Not just a couple of days before Christmas. It was hard. It was painful. But we persevered. We had to. We had to for our 3 young kids. Needless to say, it was the saddest Christmas for my wife. And just like 2020, we couldn't go home. The tickets were absurdly expensive, and we just could not afford it. Especially having to pay for our new born's visa to stay in the UK. We were just..down.

My wife still thinks about her mom. We both dream about our gone parents still to this day. We still ponder on how they will react when they see their grand kids all grown, especially the youngest and only boy that they haven't even met.

This year, 2025, seems to be the year when we NEED to head back home. As our parents back home are not getting any younger, we need to attend to some legal documents that needs our actual signatures. It is a difficult thing to do, but we have to do it while they are still strong enough. Strong enough to also enjoy their grand kids. For our kids as well to have lasting memories of their grandparents, and the Philippines altogether.

So here we are now, trying to find the cheapest tickets within the kids' 6-week school holiday. As well as trying to align with my wife's brothers schedule, who are also working overseas, so we can all be together. I know it is still a good couple of months away, but I also know that flight tickets also get more and more expensive coming to nearer to the actual departure date.

And so here I am. Reaching out to anyone who can help. Anyone who can understand the burden of losing a loved one hundreds miles away. Someone who is a parent, a son, a daughter, a husband. Or even just a someone.

I am truly grateful if you've come this far reading this. I also want to thank you in advance, no matter the course of action you may take. Even just sharing this to your socials will help us immensely. Again, thank you and may God bless you and your family. ❤️

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