Support our friend from Gaza and her family

Hey all, this is Margaret R, Sara B and Maxine M. We are raising funds for our dear friend who is a Gazan refugee in the UK, and her family who are based in Gaza.

Our friend's family is made up of their parents and their 12 year old sister. The family was evacuated from their home in Gaza 6 weeks ago. Ever since they were evacuated, they have been moving from shelter to shelter. Each of the shelters that they have tried to stay at has been targeted or demolished by a strike. Many members of the immediate family - beloved siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and niblings have been murdered. Others, including young ones, have been severely injured. Our friend's 12 year old sister in particular is deeply suffering from trauma after her family, school friends, school, city and memories are being demolished before her eyes. Our friend's mother had various complex surgeries before the war and needs constant medical care; she hasn't been able to get any for over a month now, seriously affecting her health and causing her further chronic pain. The family have barely any money or personal items on them, as they thought they would be able to go back to their home after being evacuated.

Back in the UK, our friend has been trying to stay in touch with her family every day to make sure they are still alive. This has often been extremely difficult, with the electricity and internet service blackouts in Gaza. She's lost 11 family members and 14 friends. Just like her family in Gaza, she is deeply suffering the trauma and grief of all this loss.

As a group of friends, we have watched in horror as our beloved friend and her family have been put through unspeakable pain. This is our friend who we have shared our joy with, who we value as a unique, precious soul. Watching someone we love as our own beloved family be subject to unimaginable levels of trauma, not just once, but relentlessly day after day for nearly two months now, has been an experience we don't have words for. What we do know is that our hearts are with our friend and we want to act to ensure survival for her and her family. What will help her the most right now is to make sure that her family gets out safe, despite the financial hurdles.

Our friend's family are on the Rafah crossing list to leave Gaza through a family member with European citizenship. However, they do not have access to any personal funds when in Egypt. Once they cross, they will only have 72 hours to stay in Egypt and will need expedited visas to fly out to Europe within 2-3 days. They are in urgent need of funds to pay for prompt legal support, flights, relocation and living expenses during this sudden, deeply traumatic period of transition in the middle of their grief. Our friend herself is a freelancer and has been struggling to work while she survives her grief and trauma. She needs her expenses covered so she can have time to heal as well.

We are raising £34,000 (including GF fees) for:

We aim to ensure her family's literal survival and to give our friend and her family time to rebuild their lives. Not just to survive, but to heal and experience joy too.

We are deeply grateful for reading until the end, for your support and donation - it makes a genuine difference to the survival of our precious friend and her family.