Abdul Sharifu never stopped offering assistance. The 26-year-old Congolese man had settled into life in Buffalo, New York, and frequently used his automobile to assist other migrants who were just arriving in the US.
Abdul left the house on Christmas Eve to acquire provisions, but he never came back. When they arrived, they discovered his car to be empty.
It was too late when Abdul’s family discovered that strangers had discovered him lying face down in the snow and taken him to the hospital.
“He was a good person,” Ally Sharifu, Abdul’s cousin, told Insider, adding that he did “everything” for others whenever they needed help.
Abdul was one among at least 34 victims of the blizzard that ripped through Western New York over the Christmas holiday. Buffalo had four days of nonstop snowfall and hurricane-force gusts as a result of the blizzard, which also left citizens trapped and prevented emergency services from responding to calls.
Ally claimed that he and Abdul were closer to being brothers than cousins. Abdul’s parents died in the war, and the two left the Congo when they were young. They migrated to Canada in 2002 after spending a portion of their youth in a refugee camp in Burundi. The couple moved in the US in 2017 and have lived in Buffalo ever since.
According to Ally, Abdul went out in the snowstorm on Christmas Eve at 12 p.m. to obtain milk for a friend’s wailing child. Gloria, Abdul’s wife, is set to give birth in less than a week. She woke up stunned because Abdul wasn’t home when she had taken a nap. Around eight o’clock, when her husband still hadn’t come home and wasn’t answering his phone, she panicked and called Ally.
Ally had been worried that he might still be outside and had spoken to those who had heard from him that day. But after a day went by with no communication, they got in touch with the authorities and asked friends to assist them look for Abdul. They eventually located his parked automobile.
They later discovered that he had been taken to the hospital after being discovered face down in the snow by total strangers. Abdul’s family was able to locate him after contacting the hospitals, but he had passed away. On Monday, Ally went to the hospital to identify the deceased.
The Buffalo News received confirmation from an Erie County spokeswoman that Sharifu was discovered deceased outside on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. local time.
The county, which contains Buffalo, has come under fire for its storm response as the city streets were still clogged with snow mounds on Wednesday, impeding rescue efforts. When Insider contacted the office of Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz for comment, no one responded right away.
According to Ally, Abdul had a strong sense of loyalty to the group of people he had met in Buffalo. He was always eager to stay and offered assistance to everyone in need. “He was assisting everyone. He doesn’t care about your background or who you are, “Added Ally.
In order to raise money for Abdul’s funeral, Ally set up a GoFundMe. He declared that he is now determined to tell the boy, whom he will never meet, who is due in less than a week, who Abdul was.
“I’m going to teach him about his father, who was a good man. He was hard worker,” Ally said, adding: “I want to teach him everything, everything.”
