NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan musician Nazizi Hirji has opened up about the emotional toll of losing her three-year-old son, Jazeel Adam, recounting a distressing commercial proposal she received just two months after his death and reflecting on the importance of human connection during grief.
Nazizi said a company approached her team around February 2024 with a Valentine’s Day advertising proposal promoting balcony safety nets. The concept would have required her to address her late son on camera and suggest that the product might have prevented his death.
Jazeel died on December 25, 2023, during a family holiday in Tanzania. His family confirmed that he died in an accident at the hotel where they were staying before they buried him in Nairobi in accordance with their Muslim faith.
Nazizi described the proposed campaign as an attempt to turn her most painful personal experience into a marketing opportunity.
“I couldn’t believe it. I told my team, absolutely not. I refuse to use my son’s death, my deepest trauma, to sell products or make money,” she said.
The proposed campaign reportedly centred on a message that would have expressed how much she missed her son and suggested that installing the safety product could have changed the outcome of the accident.
Nazizi said the approach exposed the lack of empathy that can emerge when commercial interests take precedence over a person’s circumstances.
“It showed me how people can completely lose their humanity and empathy when money is involved. My grief is not a marketing strategy,” she added.
The experience came during the early months of Nazizi’s bereavement, a period she has described as profoundly difficult.
In the months following Jazeel’s death, the musician shared emotional tributes on social media as she struggled to adjust to life without him. She spoke about missing their everyday routines, including watching cartoons, sharing cuddles and hearing his laughter.
By August 2025, Nazizi had revealed that she spent almost a year largely confined to her home after the loss. She avoided visitors because she needed time and space to process what had happened.
Prayer, meditation and support from family and friends became important parts of her journey. She also acknowledged the encouragement she received from fans, who reached out whenever she shared her difficult moments online.
Beyond the proposed advertisement, Nazizi reflected on how commercial expectations can undermine genuine human connection.
She explained that relationships become difficult when people approach one another primarily to exchange favours, secure business opportunities or gain financially, rather than recognising each other’s humanity.
“Once you remove the human connection and we put it on a monetary, it’s a money-based connection, or it’s a, I’ll do you a favor, you do me a favor, then we forget what being human being and what souls are connecting for in the first place,” she said.
