LONDON (Reuters) – A video of a British Somali mother tearfully embracing her daughter at the latter’s university graduation has prompted an emotional reaction online, after the student revealed how much the moment meant to the family.

“Mama you ran from a civil war so I could be safe & get the education you didn’t. Today you cried when you saw me in my robe,” wrote Ramla Tyrow, in a tweet that was shared thousands of times in just a few hours.

Tyrow, who graduated in from Middlesex University with a degree in psychology and counselling, told Reuters that her mother had left her native Somalia in 1996, shortly after giving birth, and endured a three-year wait to gain access to the U.K.

“She felt as though I had changed the destiny of her family,” Tyrow said. “She came from absolutely nothing and she sees me becoming someone great.”