Salwa Haydar never had the chance to cross the stage and receive her university degree; instead it was presented to her daughters during a ceremony last week.
The Bexley mother was just 45 when her husband Haydar murdered her in front of their youngest child, Ola, then 18.
He was found guilty of her murder almost two years to the day since she was killed on March, 30, 2015.
Salwa had been studying at Western Sydney University after completing a TAFE course on social welfare.
Her daughter Amani said it was work she was passionate about and something she had picked up later in life after her children started school.
‘’She loved the community sector and helping other people,’’ she said.
‘’She loved coming home after work and telling us all about the people who she helped. That was just her.’’
Amani said her mother impressed on all her children how important education was.
‘’She encouraged us to pursue any career we wanted,’’ she said.
‘’I think she really saw education as a form of empowerment because she missed out of a lot of those things when she was younger.’’
Amani went on to study law while her younger sisters have studied journalism and architecture.
She said she had mixed emotions about receiving the posthumous bachelor of community welfare degree on behalf of her mother.
‘’I think it’s something my mum would have loved,’’ she said.
‘’It was a dream of hers to go to uni and graduate.
‘’It was a proud moment but it was tinged at the same time because we would have liked for her to be here and accept it herself.’’
Amani said the family have struggled through the trial but are committed to speaking out against domestic violence.
‘’The women who are lost in these situations are valuable not only to their families but to the community,’’ she said.
‘’My mum had so much to offer but it was taken away from her.’’
Haydar will face a sentencing hearing on May 5.
The family will be fundraising for the Cancer Council in honor of their mother.
To donate follow this link.
