Butterworth family seeks mom’s remains from Japan
Relatives need money to travel to Asia to get closure
A Butterworth family are desperately seeking to bring home the remains of their loved one from Japan.
Veliswa Jiya Islam, 37, moved to Japan with her boyfriend in 2018 to look for employment. She found work in a factory, but on September 20 she died at a hospital in the city of Saitama after battling pneumonia since May.
Jiya’s distraught daughter, Sivenathi Jiya, said her mother’s death had dealt the family a huge blow, both emotionally and from a financial perspective as she had been the breadwinner.
Now they have another struggle on their hands.
Sivenathi, 22, a final-year journalism student at Walter Sisulu University, has taken to social media, explaining that the costs of repatriating her mother’s body are too high.
She said the family now had to raise funds so that her grandmother, Vuyelwa, 80, and brother, Yanga, 19, could visit Jiya’s grave in Japan to find some closure.
She said her mother’s boyfriend had arranged for her burial as the family could not afford to pay mortuary and repatriation fees, which would have cost the family close to R200,000.
“My mother was everything to us. This has affected my grandmother in particular, as she has taken ill since finding out her daughter has passed. This has affected her health too.”
Sivenathi said the family had knocked on “every government door” looking for help.
“We tried to get her back but without success.
“My family is struggling. We need people to help us with donations so that we can go there and get closure, especially for my grandmother. We are saddened by this.”
She and her mother had been very close, Sivenathi said, and Jiya would video-call the family from Japan every Sunday.
“As the family, we plead for help from SA, the SA embassy in Japan and government departments to help us.”
Sivenathi said she would be starting a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding platforms.
Nolitha Mfezeli, 46, the late woman’s cousin, described her as a very humble and caring person.
“This is a huge loss. In our culture, we believe in burying our loved ones where we can see them.
“In this case, she is far away and this is very hard for us. It’s even harder for her children and mother,” Mfezeli said.
Department of international relations & co-operation spokesperson Clayton Monyela said:
“As part of rendering consular services to the family, it will be explained what, in terms of processes, they need to follow whether to travel to Japan or repatriate.”