Six-year-old from Golders Green cycles 40 miles and raises £5,000 for deafness charity which helped her to hear
Mia Basma-Saffiedine on her bike. Picture: Rayan Basma - Credit: Archant
A startling Golders Green six-year-old has raised more than £5,000 for charity.
Mia Basma-Saffiedine was born profoundly deaf and relies on cochlear implants to hear – but this didn’t stop her riding 40 mies on her bike in just one week in aid of the deafness charity Auditory Verbal UK.
Mia was born with bilateral hearing loss, and without her implants would have absolutely no hearing. Her mum Rayan, has the same hearing problems.
But around her sixth birthday, the determined girl donned a helmet and jumped on her bike as part of a fundraising drive for AVUK – which has helped her with language and communication skills since she was a baby.
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The year 1 pupil who goes to Garden Suburb Infants’ School told the Ham&High: “I did the cycling because I want deaf children to have the same chances as me to hear listen and talk.
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“AVUK is very important because it helps deaf children like me to listen, hear and speak.”
Mia said the daily cycling, which she has continued since completing her challenge on her birthday – July 4 – had been “super-duper amazing, but the uphills killed me”.
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The cycling also marked the fifth anniversary of her cochlear implants being fitted on July 2.
She added she was “really proud of herself” and the plan is to look towards taking on another cycling challenge in 2021.
But Mia did have one request for her mum Rayan, who helped organise her fundraiser. “Please try to find more downhill bits, no uphills”, she said.
Rayan said she was “so proud” of Mia’s hard work and added: “She did really well and really persevered.”
Mia’s cycling saw her complete routes around Hampstead Garden Suburb, Temple Fortune and Golders Green, with her final day’s ride even taking her up to Hendon.
Auditory Verbal UK is a national charity that helps babies and young children with permanent hearing loss to listen and talk, without the need for lip reading or sign language. It works to intervene as early as possible and to give deaf babies and children the opportunity to listen and speak as equals to other children their age.
To support Mia’s fundraising effort, visit uk.gofundme.com/f/mia039s-campaign-for-auditory-verbal-uk
