Mariya Javed and Another Star In The Sky

Fresh from winning Young Inspirational Citizen at the first annual Renfrewshire Inspirational Awards, we find out more about the amazing charity work of schoolgirl Mariya Javed by speaking to her mother, Sameena Javed.

When an unimaginable tragedy happens, the most courageous thing that anyone can do is to try to turn it into something constructive.

For the Javed family, the loss of their son Ahmad at just 14 years of age was the hardest thing they’d ever had to bear. Born with a rare condition known as arteriovenous malformation – commonly abbreviated to AVM – his passing in 2017 left them with the desire to keep his memory alive however they could. Now, Ahmad’s sister, Mariya has done exactly that through her tireless work for their charitable fund, Another Star In The Sky. 

“We initially started with the Glasgow Children’s Hospital charity 10k walks, then we heard about the Kilt Walk and thought it might be a bigger stage,” Mariya’s mother Sameena revealed. “To date, she’s done four including the virtual one and she was named a Kilt Walk hero. Mariya enjoys it and we’ve made lots of new friends. Most people there have their own cause, but that’s what brings us all together.

“As she started doing the charity walks and collecting some money, she realised that the publicity of the news stories helps with the cause. We need to keep it out there and fundraising is the best way to do it. Ultimately, what we’d like to contribute to is finding some kind of treatment or cure for AVM. Research is advancing all the time, so there’s no reason why we can’t discover one in the future.”

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“I don’t think how much she’s accomplished has even really become clear because she’s too busy just doing it,” Sameena contended. “After something big happens, like when she won the Renfrewshire Inspirational Award, why she’s doing all of this sinks in.”

From campaigning to integrate bereavement education into the school curriculum to aspirations of becoming a charity in their own right, it’s clear that the Javed family will stop at nothing to do Ahmad’s memory proud. Unsurprisingly, they’ve wasted little time in populating their 2022 calendar.

“We’ve already signed up for Kilt Walk 2022  and we’re hoping to get involved with the Glasgow Children’s Hospital’s activities as they should be back to normal. They’re always doing things like bucket collections and even do skydives, but unfortunately Mariya isn’t old enough for that yet (laughs).

“Just now, I’m trying to get people on board in terms of turning Another Star In The Sky into a community group. We’re always looking for people, so if anyone wants to get in contact, we’d be happy to hear from them.” 

To find out more about Mariya Javed and her mother Sameena, please visit Another Star in the Sky on Facebook.