My story began 25 years ago. When I was in high school, the mathematics teacher took us to an orphanage. Since that day, I have been fascinated by the question of how come and why all these children without a home or family. When I was 15 years old, I knew that I wanted to help these children, and I knew that one day I would surely do. I didn't know when or how, but I was sure it would happen. Years passed and I graduated from university. I preferred to visit the same orphanage and watch the girls grow up. I worked for the first time in 2001, and at the same time the orphanage asked for volunteers to support the new children financially. I decided that with my first salary, I would support one of the girls. After years, my relationship with her and other 7 girls remained strong. I felt that no matter how much love, money, and time we spent with them, it would never be like to be loved by a family of theirs in a home. Their decisions weren’t in their hands. Among those 8 girls, only two remained in touch with me and our relationship grew stronger by time. They are 20 years old and they study in Cairo University. Every time I try to do kafala for those two girls, Ministry of Social Solidarity refuse along with my family because I was unmarried and still young. They would always tell me that what I am doing is enough; I couldn’t agree with them because I was determined that I would do kafala when I get married and raise both of my two children and breastfeed them together. Now, I am 40 years old and unmarried. I am happy and proud of my decisions and all the expriences that made me who I am now. After a while, new laws were released, and it became possible to do kafala even if I am not married. I can now do kafala for my future daughter, raise her in a safe home and provide her with love and care. All those children deserve a safe home. They don’t deserve to be left out. They didn’t choose their circumstances. I knew about the new laws from the Facebook page: Adoption Story in Egypt. Since then, I followed Rasha Mekky, liked her story and was about to get in touch with her. I talked to her about my fears of the whole experience. She supported me and taught me a lot. On June, I found the link of the adoption application by the Ministry of Social Solidarity online. I finally took the decision and applied. I finished all the papers by the 30th of June. It was an official holiday, but weirdly enough I was able to submit my file this day. I was going to stay at my grandfather’s place but I couldn’t find the lease. However, officials helped me and made me sign an agreement that I would inform them of my new home, if I left that one. My biggest fear was telling my dad. I decided to visit him in Sahel. His first reponse was NO of course. I kept trying to convince him 4 days in a row. He was afraid that I might not be aware of how huge this step is. He didn’t want me to break my heart and lose the life I love. It would be hard for a single mother to be responsible solely of a kid. I was supposed to get back to Cairo for the social worker visit. My father wasn’t against the idea. I am sure that he will be the best grandfather to my daughter. I got a call on Sunday the 5th of July by the social worker. The visit report was positive, and the committee visit will be on the 15th of July. I couldn’t believe that in less than 10 days, I will have all the papers to have a family of my own. I started to look at the orphanages around me in Cairo. I saw more than 7 girls, their ages ranged from two and a half months to a year and two months, but my daughter was not one of them, she was not in Cairo at all. A week ago, I got a call from a surrogate mother who was looking for a girl like me, and she said that she went to Suez and saw two girls there, and she was not confident in her decision. She sent me their pictures, and I asked her to pray and decide. Then she decided to sponsor one of them, “Mariam,” and she asked me if I had found my daughter or not yet. She suggested that I check the photo of the other girl. At that time, I thought that I was not affected by the pictures she had sent. I asked her to send me other pictures. She sent me a picture of a girl as beautiful as the moon. My heart skipped a beat. I knew that she was exactly 27 days old. This means that she was born on the 20th of June. I was overwhelmed when I remember that I dreamed that day of my deceased friend’s father taking me by the hand to the gate of heaven and making me sit next to the Prophet in a reserved place for me. And I remembered the noble hadith (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, he said: I and the one who takes care of an orphan are like these in heaven, and he pointed with his index and middle fingers). So, this was it. I traveled to Suez and saw my daughter Ghalia. She was one month old and I was supposed to wait another two months so that I could take her with me into our home. For two whole months, I kept waiting. They were the longest two months in my life. In these two months I will start the artificial feeding course so that I can breastfeed her as soon as she arrives. I believe that breastfeeding creates a special relationship between mother and baby. Moreover, it strengthens the immune system. I will do my best to raise her well and make her the happiest girl in the world. Everything she dreams of will be there. My family and I will provide her with the best life. We appreciate her. Ghalia now has her own family forever. You have enlightened our lives, Ghalia.

“The day I saw her, I and her father were so confused. We did not feel anything. We were confused and did not know what feeling we were supposed to feel, but after we walked from there, we felt that we missed her greatly and our hearts got attached to her.” I am Marwa Hafez, and I went for kafala after 21 years of marriage without children. I presented it to my husband and he initially refused, but when he learned about the issue of breastfeeding and that the presence of a girl would no longer be forbidden or haram, he agreed that we would go for kafala. We made this decision in June 2021, and we began the journey of preparing the papers and submitted them on the 4th of July, 2021. The day of submitting the papers coincided with the day of Misk’s birth, and the procedures and approvals took about nine months. I swear it was like a pregnancy period. I was suffering during these nine months because I saw my daughter when she was 3 months old. Security check took a long time. I wanted to have her right away because she was sick in the hospital. I used to travel to Minya every 15 days for nine months until I received her on the 17th of March. It was only 4 days before Mother’s Day. It was as if God was comforting my heart and her father’s with her beautiful presence. It was as if my life started again. On that day, Misk came to our place, and we were preparing a party to welcome her. My sisters and my family were all happy. A week after we received her, we held a big party for her in a large hall. We invited all our beloved friends, friends of our friends, relatives and neighbors. All of them were happy and it was a day that we still talk about to this day. Praise be to God, it has been a year since Misk got in my life, and this is the year in which I was born. Every Mother's Day, I hold you in my arms, and every day I hold you in my arms is a Mother’s Day for me. May God not deprive me of her or her presence in our lives, me and her father’s.

I decided that I would choose her with white skin so that she would be close to me and would not be tired when she grew up because of the difference in skin color.” My name is Heba, single. I work as a pharmacist, and I am 40 years old. It was my life’s dream to be a mother, but didn’t get married. I wanted to have a daughter, but the law did not allow women, who never got married, to do kafala. I knew that the law changed and I watched videos of Marwa and Yasmina, who gave me new hope in life, and I took the step. I submitted my papers, and thank God, it was accepted. The beautiful thing about it is that the approval came to me on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2021, and it was the most beautiful day in my life. I wanted to have a little girl so that I could live every moment with her, and share with her first laugh, her first birthday, her first baby steps, her first words. and I decided that I would choose her with white skin so that she would be close to me and would be accepted by the society when she grew up because of the difference in skin color. God willed that she is of a dark skin color and also from Upper Egypt, as if God was telling me that I am the one to choose for you, not you, and it was the best choice. God blessed me with Mariam. Praise be to God, since the day she got into my life, I was filled with happiness and love; and I still had a goal to live for, and I still had hope in life, and I always prayed that God would support me to raise her well and be a good person.