FINDING FREEDOM IN FAMILY TIME

After more than a decade of separation, a family torn apart by conflict was finally reunited, and their very first holiday gave them the chance to reconnect in peace and privacy.

Basharat, Khushal, and their two children had spent years, nearly a decade, apart. When Khushal unexpectedly disappeared in 2012 while working in Afghanistan, Basharat was left navigating life as a single mother, pregnant with their second child, in a country far from her support system.

After years of waiting and fearing the worst, her world changed in 2021 with a video call from her aunt. The face that appeared was Khushal’s. He was alive, held captive and denied contact, but now free and desperate to find his family. Nearly ten years after he vanished, their lives would never be the same.

In Melbourne, it was a joyous reunion, but they still lived with many others, cramped into a small home with no privacy. That is when the Magical Getaway Foundation intervened. Basharat’s family was given a fully funded holiday, their first ever.

They escaped to Phillip Island for a week. They watched penguins, strolled along beaches, and laughed freely. For once, it was just the four of them. In that space, away from the crowd and the noise, they reconnected.

For Basharat, the holiday was more than rest; it was redemption.

“It was so special to have private time just with my family… to enjoy the peace, the solitude, and the time with my husband and two children. It was a very special time that we will never forget.”

When they returned, they returned as one. With renewed hope, a vision for their future, and a deepened bond that no hardship could shake.