BritCits

Mahi

“We just want to look after our mother and have the means to do so..yet we’re being told we can’t...”

Mahi is a permanent resident in the UK. This means she has earned the right to live here for the rest of her life, without any conditions attached. Mahi’s sister is a British citizen, also living in the UK. They are both married and well settled here.

Mahi earns a decent salary, certainly enough to look after her family without recourse to public funds. Their mum is aged 54 and a widow. Two of her daughters – Mahi and her sister – live in the UK with their husbands and children. Her third daughter lives in the USA. Mahi’s mum is completely alone.

Yes she is relatively young and no, she doesn’t need help being fed, bathed and dressed. She is haunted by a loneliness. As she has always been a housewife, her life revolved around looking after her husband, her children and her home. Her children and grandchildren – her family – are all overseas. Her husband is no longer alive. She is completely alone.

She is lucky though. Mahi has been supporting her financially. Mahi and her sister have had their mum visit them on three occasions now. Mahi’s mum liked being surrounded by her kids, grandkids..it made her feel younger, more alive, less lonely certainly and less depressed.

Mahi and her sister want their mum to live with them permanently. They have the means to ensure she can live here without ever having to fall back on public funds.

Yet they are being denied this and understandably bemused. They are not wanting to take their mother away from her home country, to dump her in an old people’s home..they want to look after her themselves, to ensure that they can return the favours that this mother bestowed on them…the favours that have allowed Mahi and her sister to make a better life for themselves, in the UK, providing services that we all benefit from.