Help 2 Teens with Dad's Cremation & Mom's Travel

Please help two Seattle teenagers pay for their dad's cremation and their mom's travel to visit following their father's sudden passing in early January!

In 2018, Dayal, experiencing severe kidney disease and needing intensive dialysis, moved from Bengal, India to Seattle, Washington. Having lived in Seattle before, Dayal was blessed with good friends and colleagues through the volunteer organization Companis. Though their mother Debi was unable to accompany them, Dayal's daughters Moushumi (now 16) and Neha (now 14), came to Seattle in 2019 eager to enter the US education system he had shared about the benefits of many times. Due to Dayal's health challenges and the three-day-a-week dialysis regimen, he was unable to work consistently and the family relied heavily on public assistance.

 

 

 

On January 6, 2022, Neha and Moushumi found their father had died during the night. This was a sudden and shocking loss. Dayal had recently been added to the kidney transplant list after years of waiting, and had all signs that he would be healthy enough to receive the transplant. His daughters, being 16 and 14 years old, were left without a parent in the USA. They are now living with close family friends, Claudia and Antonio and their adult children, Kyla, Joe and Byron.

 

 

These girls are so special, and have balanced caring for their father, managing their household and attending middle- and high-school during the past three years. The teens are involved in youth group at Seattle First Baptist Church, where Moushumi also helps with children's ministry. Both girls have participated in local Peace Camps. Neha has a special connection with caring for animals, and Moushumi loves soccer. We know Dayal was so proud of his girls and the young women they are growing to be!

Dayal's wife, Debi, has been unable to visit Seattle in the last 3 years that her husband and daughters have been living here. She needs to be with her daughters in this time of mourning. She also hopes to bring Dayal's ashes back to India to his family.

 

Claudia and Antonio and their family have stepped up to provide a home for the teens as they figure out their next steps and grieve this sudden loss. Claudia's sister Heidi and her husband John were also close friends of Dayal's, and are helping Moushumi and Neha as they navigate the legal and financial complexities during this time. These wonderful girls need help paying for Dayal's cremation and for their mom Debi's travel expenses. Please help these two teenagers bring their mother to visit them, and help pay for their father's cremation.

 

 

 

Initially, we are asking for $10,000 to cover the cost of cremation (~$1500) and the travel for Debi from India (~$5000). It is likely Debi will stay with her daughters in the USA while they plan for their future, in which case they will need funds for rent and necessities.

 

If more funds are raised than needed for these expenses, they will go to the girls’ immediate expenses.

Moushumi and Neha are courageous, caring, brilliant and kind. Thank you for contributing, and showing the girls that there is a community who wants to support them, just as they supported their dad in his last years of this life.