As families everywhere gather around the world to honour love, sacrifice and resilience during this Mother’s Day, there is a group of mothers, whose strength gleams across the borders quietly. These are Kenyan mothers who are receiving medical care in India and who are bravely struggling to save their own lives, whilst being thousands of miles apart with their children in Kenya.

To most of these mothers, the trip to India is not only about getting specialized and cheap medical services, but also hope. Hope for recovery. Wish to live longer. Hope to come home better and to support the families. But behind this hope is a great emotional truth: Mother’s Day without their children.

There is a poignant human story behind any medical journey. To these Kenyan mothers, it is not only healthcare, but survival, sacrifice, and the future of their families that is at stake when they choose to travel outside the country to get treatment. They have to travel many thousands of miles away leaving their serious illnesses and having few or no access to special treatment options at home. The emotional aspect is equally difficult to many of these mothers, as the physical. The process of healing in a foreign nation is accompanied by its own challenges, new surroundings, cultures unknown to people, and lack of family support system. But, they steer it all through with strength. They spend their days on hospital visits, treatments and recovery programs. Their nights are however usually different, the silence, the longing, the pain of not being with their children.

Children too are hit by the absence. They are proud and longing to celebrate Mother’s Day back in Kenya. They understand that their mothers are struggling to stay alive, yet they also need the comfort of their mothers at home, the routine, the words of encouragement, and the love that is unconditional and which could be offered only by their mothers.

Technology is their saving grace. Video calls become life lines. A smile at the screen, a child with a drawing, a mere Mama, when will you come back? These are moments of comfort and pain. The emotional requirements of international patients are getting more and more acknowledged by healthcare facilitators and support teams in India. Minor acts such as organizing virtual family reunions, celebrating events in the hospital, or just listening to an ear are great ways of comforting.

They are the tales that may be left in the background tales of resilience that may not necessarily be highlighted, yet would be good to listen to, especially on a day that is devoted to the celebration of mothers. With families across the globe gathering this Mother’s Day; it is appropriate to take a moment to consider the families that are celebrating in different ways: The families that are separated by borders but are united by love, the families that are presently struggling to be present tomorrow.

Their experiences re-establish the concept of strength. Strength in this sense is not merely surviving sickness, but making a decision to struggle towards a future where they are able to nurture, love and support their children. GetWellGo recognizes these unspoken struggles on this Mother’s Day. It acknowledges that being a mother does not mean being physically close, but through unconditional love and sacrifice. These Kenyan mothers illustrate that reality on a daily basis.

This period though is only a short-lived stage in the life of many mothers; a chapter in their lives that they hope one day will come to an end with healing and reconciliation. The hope of going home, hugging their children and getting back to their roles with a new health keeps them going day in day out. Every step of treatment done, every positive report, every little step forward draws them nearer to the moment they want most to be back home: To Return not as a survivor but as a mother who is waiting to be able to embrace her children again.

With the world giving their mothers roses and gifts on the Mother’s Day, we should not forget that the mothers of these silent warriors are battling on their behalf, having to go to war without their beloved ones at home, because of love and duty. Their tales help us to remember that motherhood is not a matter of distance, but a matter of closeness of the heart. A mother is always close, powerful and enduring in her love, be it near or far.

When helping Kenyan mothers on their medical trips to India, GetWellGo is not only determined to help them get treatment. It serves as the conduit between patients and good care, helps them navigate through unknown systems, and provides support in one of the most difficult stages of their lives.

This Mother Day, GetWellGo wishes to offer its warmest respect and good wishes to all Kenyan mothers who are in India undergoing treatment. Their adventures are a case of perseverance, compromise and unconditional love. They bring with them the dreams of their families and the assurance of a reunion where they will be strong, healthy and happy as they move on their journey to healing.