A mother facing deportation from Australia is faced with the dire prospect of leaving her disabled daughter behind so she can receive the best possible care.
Kamisha Gobdurdhun moved from the East African island of Mauritius to Australia on a student visa in 2008 and her daughter Sabiana was born a year later.
Sabiana, now 13 years old, was born with a rare genetic condition, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, which causes severe developmental delay and she can only speak about 15 words.
Her father is not looking after her and Ms Gobdurdhun, who works in the construction industry in Sydney, has been told to leave the country.
Kamisha Gobdurdhun (left) moved from the East African island of Mauritius to Australia on a student visa in 2008 and her daughter Sabiana (right) was born a year later
She doesn’t want to entrust her child to anyone else, but knows that if she takes her daughter with her, she won’t get the best possible care.
“You can’t do that to my child, you can’t separate a mother from her child,” she said.
Ms Gobdurdhun said the healthcare system in her home country is nowhere near as good as that in Australia.
“Take her and let her die, and I can’t do that,” she said.
If Ms Gobdurdhun does not get a new visa, she will be deported in a matter of weeks.
“I won’t be able to survive without my daughter and she won’t be able to either because we’ve always been together and she knows Mom,” she said. A current situation.
The fate of the mother and daughter now rests in the hands of Immigration Secretary Adam Giles.
When she was born, there was little expectation that Sabiana would live past two years, and she stopped breathing twice when she was very young.
“I really owe that to the Australian government and the medical experts, everyone fought so hard to keep her alive today,” her mother said.
But she said it would risk her life to bring her daughter back to Mauritius
“I know the difference between the medical treatment here and what we can get at home,” said Ms Gobdurdhun.
Sabiana (pictured) was born with a rare genetic condition, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, which causes severe developmental delay
“If you say to me, take Sabiana home, it would be like someone saying to me, ‘Okay, take her and let her die’ and I can’t do that.”
Getting her 7,837 km to Mauritius is almost impossible anyway.
“My daughter can’t fly, she can’t travel and that has also been confirmed by her doctors because of her condition,” Ms Gobdurdhun said.
Sabiana needs help with almost everything from showering to feeding to walking to dressing.
Ms Gobdurdhun did get ministerial intervention under the previous coalition government in 2018 when she was granted a medical treatment visa.
But that ended in April and she unknowingly missed the opportunity to transfer to a permanent visa before her daughter became an Australian citizen.
She now has a bridging visa that expires on June 13 in just over two weeks.
Immigration lawyer Adam Byrnes said only the Immigration Minister can help Ms Gobdurdhun now, and there are “unique and exceptional circumstances in this case”.
He said if Mr Giles does not intervene she will likely be placed in immigration detention and removed from Australia.
“That would be absolutely tragic, the focus has to be on the child here,” Byrnes said.
Kamisha Gobdurdhun (pictured) said her daughter’s fate is now in the hands of Immigration Minister Adam Giles
“The minister (is) the only one here who has the power to do something here and I really expect him to do something and be honest,” Ms Gobdurdhun said.
“I’m still going to work, I’m still going to pay my taxes, I’m still going to respect Australian values and contribute where I can.”
The strong-willed mother is determined to keep fighting for her child’s best interests. “I don’t take no for an answer when it comes to my daughter’s life,” she said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Immigration Minister for comment.