A mother who asked a stranger to help her five-year-old daughter travel from Sierra Leon to the US for emergency medical treatment in 2003 has finally been able to thank the mystery man 15 years later. The daughter, Maya Hughes (pictured), is now 20 and living in California, shared the inspiring story in a Twitter thread this week
A mother who asked a stranger to help her five-year-old daughter travel from Sierra Leon to the US for emergency medical treatment in 2003 has finally been able to thank the mystery man 15 years later.
The daughter, Maya Hughes, who is now 20 and living in California, shared the inspiring story in a Twitter thread that went viral this week after it was shared by the stranger, former Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello.
She wrote that her mother Zee Sesay decided 'out of thin air one day' that she and Hughes were going to move to Sierra Leon, Sesay's home country, for six months.
Four months into their stay, Hughes suffered a medical emergency and needed to return to the US as soon as possible.
Hughes skipped over some details but explained: 'It was a life & death type situation so my mom had to get me out but she couldn't come with me so she had to find someone ASAP in the airport to bring me back to America.'
Hughes' mother Zee Sesay decided 'out of thin air one day' to move the family to Sierra Leon, her home country, for six months in 2003. Four months in, Hughes suffered a medical emergency and needed to return to the US as soon as possible, but Sesay wasn't able to go back with her. The childhood photo above shows Hughes (left) with Sesay around that time
Sesay rushed to the airport and sought out someone who could travel back to the US with her five-year-old. She managed to convince a man she didn't know to take on the task. Sesay learned 15 years later that that man was Tom Perriello (above), a former Virginia congressman
Recounting the story to BuzzFeed News, Sesay said she rushed to the airport and asked a ticket counter employee to point out anyone who was traveling to the US.
The employee initially told Sesay that it was against the airline's policy to provide that information, but eventually directer her to one man after some convincing.
'I walked over to this gentleman and asked if he could travel with Maya,' Sesay told BuzzFeed. 'At first he said no, saying he was traveling to the US for a funeral.'
She said somehow she was able to convince him to fly the youngster back to meet relatives in Maryland.
'I stood by and watched the plane took off and not realizing I had handed my kid off to a complete stranger,' she said.
'It was adrenaline, I wasn't in the right state of mind and I wasn't thinking properly ... and that was the end of it. I never again saw this man.'
Hughes is now 20 years old and living in California. She said of Perriello: 'There’s a huge possibility I wouldn’t be here today if this man didn’t bring me back over here'
Hughes recalled the day as 'a lot of chaos and crying nonstop on the plane' and said the man sang to her on the plane to calm her down.
She wrote on Twitter: 'My mom has been trying to find this man for 15 years, we never got his name or anything.
'So like a week ago my mom found him through a family member who actually worked with him and she said he matched the description and everything.'
The man in question is Tom Perriello, a representative from Virginia who worked with former President Barack Obama's administration.
Sesay emailed him and the pair have been in touch since Monday.
She said Perriello has been filling her in on parts of the journey from Sierra Leone to Virginia that she never knew about.
'This man having accepted a kid from a complete stranger, it's a testament to the kind of person he is,' Sesay said.
Sesay reached out to Perriello over email and the pair have been in communication on Monday. Perriello, who is now executive director of Open Society Foundation, worked for the administration of former President Barack Obama (pictured together in 2010)
Perriello retweeted Hughes' thread, calling the trip 15 years ago: 'One of the craziest experiences of my entire life'
Concluding her story on Twitter, Hughes wrote: 'I know this is a long a** thread and may not seem like much to many but there’s a HUGE possibility I wouldn’t be here today if this man didn’t bring me back over here,' Hughes tweeted.
'Finding him after 15 years is really oc [out of control] because I thought about it a lot, he didn’t have to help me, he didn’t owe me anything. I’m so so grateful!!!!!!!'
Perriello, who is now executive director of the Open Society Foundation, retweeted Hughes' thread and wrote: 'One of the craziest experiences of my entire life is now a Twitter thread - and I could not be happier to know you are shining bright, @_themayan_!'
Perriello told BuzzFeed: 'It's an incredibly vivid memory that seems like something out of a movie. It just wasn't clear if it was a happy movie or a sad movie.'
He said of leaving the girl with Sesay's mother at Washington Dulles International airport: 'One of the happier moments in my life was seeing Maya run into her grandmother's arms.'
Hughes and Sesay both told BuzzFeed they are hopeful that they will someday be able to meet Perriello in person.
'For 15 years I was looking for this ghost,' Sesay said. 'I hope to meet with him to get the opportunity to shake his hand, hug him, and thank him for having done that.'
Hughes remarked: 'He's a genuinely good person, which is something we don't have a lot of anymore.
'If it wasn't for him I don't know how I would've made it back. We've been trying to find him because we never really got to say thank you.'
Hughes' Twitter thread is seen in full above
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/16/mother-tracks-down-mystery-man-15-years-after-he-helped-bring-her-5-year-old-daughter-to-the-us/
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A mother who asked a stranger to help her five-year-old daughter travel from Sierra Leon to the US for emergency medical treatment in 2003 has finally been able to thank the mystery man 15 years later. The daughter, Maya Hughes (pictured), is now 20 and living in California, shared the...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/15/23/7473908-6499995-image-a-2_1544916829808.jpg
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