A gift of a Mother is the most precious God-given gift one can have. I have been honoured to have a Mother of that nature. Shadi( as she prefered to be called), was an extraordinary individual, a very special Mom, sister to many, a lovely grandmom and a wonderful teacher. Very dynamic and young at heart. All her works said it all! I salute her for her bravery and her perserverance in times of hardships and challenges that we faced in our family. When we lost our Dad (her Husband) 18 years ago (still feel like yesterday), nobody ever thought we will survive and be what we are today and Mom has proved how strong and courageous she was. She became both Mom & Dad, raising all her children on her own and dealing with the pain of losing her Husband in such a traumatic way. Mom, you were a star indeed! I used to ask her how does she managed to stay so active and do all multi tasks at her age, keeping such a high profile in the society. From being a teacher, member of community civic, full member of SADTU and active member of the church and still advancing towards her masters degree in Education (which she was to be awarded in 6 months time- MAY 2009). Aim so proud of you, remember you are the one who persuaded me to go for masters degree as well! Early september 2008, we learned that Mom was just diagnosed with CANCER. Another shocking news for us but it was amazing how she turned all the shock and distress that came after such discovery to HOPE and COURAGE. Mom was so brave and positive in an astonishing way and she used to say, "cancer does not mean death". She was very close to God during this time and was so prayful. She started her radiotherapy and Chemotherapy and she was fantastic with it. She would always say that she wish if people can go for treatment and not to be afraid as there is no big deal about it. Never did we thought that She will be called to heaven so quick and sudden. It took only few hours of walking into oncology department on the morning of thursday 27 2008 and 3 hours after that, she was lying in a cold room. It was the most heartbreaking thing to believe. I could vividly see her fresh looking body, peaceful looking face with no hair loss on her head lying flat rapped with a white cloth as if she will open her eyes and wake up. How possibe that can happen? she was fined few hours ago and woke up in the morning for her daily treatment and now she no more with us. Those were the kind of questions that came to my mind. I know she had normal pains that comes with the condition but Mom was still active and living her normal day to day life. She was left with only 2 weeks to complete her treatment and we were all looking forward to that and so she was too. We loved her and always will do however i wanted to see her enjoying all the hard work she put to raised us up, guided and supported us and nurtured us to who we are today. She will always be a shining star in our whole wide world and her works can never be forgotten. She gave us more than what we needed and she sacrified quiet a lot in the name of Love. Mom, we salute you and we are missing you terrebly. You are inreplaceble, unmatched and amazing woman we are truely proud of. I know you loved, trusted God as you taught us to trust and obey him. We will meet in heavely joy one day. May your soul rest in perfect peace until the resuraction of the body. I LOVE YOU Mother.