Provide Food, Clean Water and Education for Gaza's Children

Hello, my name is Jawaher (JD) Dabbakeh, a Palestinian American currently residing in Texas, and I have set up this GoFundMe for our dear friend Lamia Soulimane. Lamia is a teacher, mother, new grandmother, and a resident of Gaza who was displaced nine months ago. She founded a charitable organization called Women of Shallal Al Khair seven years ago that helps women and children in need within Gaza, and even as her home has been lost in an air strike, and she has been living in tents; moving from village to village as displacement orders have made her homeless at least five times this year—she has still kept up her charity and continues to support the people in her community with what little she has.

When Lamia can get her hands on aid, she cooks large meals to distribute to nearby displaced families. With any funds we and our family and friends have been able to send her, Lamia has redistributed them to families around her in even greater need—especially those with sick children who need medicine/treatment. Her main focus is to help Gaza’s most vulnerable, pregnant women, mothers and children in need. And they are very much in need right now. I mean, this woman has been building ovens made from clay in what little spare time she has and sharing them with people, along with flour she buys and distributes, so they can all make bread to share with the refugee camp. What a remarkable human being.

After the last air strike displaced Lamia and her new community of refugees, she has focused on not only feeding the children around her to keep them alive, but her goal is to also feed their souls and minds. The last time I was able to speak to her, she told me how she didn’t just want to keep these children alive in body, but in spirit as well—living in constant fear, in tents, having lost so many loved ones, it has taken its toll on them, she shared. But the little school she has established, which she has moved from refugee camp to refugee camp several times now, has helped to keep them bright and hopeful amidst the depression that was setting in.

Unfortunately, every time they have to move to avoid air strikes, they lose their little makeshift school and everything in it. Our goal today is to help Lamia do two things:

1. We’d like to help her fund the education of these sweet, displaced children, helping to keep their sanity, take their minds off the fear they’re living in, and to literally give them something to do other than wander around the hot, dusty tents in the middle of summer. All her supplies, which in these times are incredibly hard to find and very expensive, were lost in the last strike. Let’s help her buy new ones and give these kids hope. Every child needs hope. Every child deserves a will to live.

2. Lamia is also finding, buying and distributing clean drinking water to those around her in the refugee camp. It is very, very hard to come by at this point, and very expensive. As you know, it is also essential to keep them alive. She finds water that has been filtered as much as possible, because all the water treatment facilities in Gaza have been destroyed, and she distributes it to children and families as often as possible.

Thank you for reading, thank you for helping, and thank you for caring. Any small amount can and will help, and is much appreciated. From the bottom of mine and Lamia’s hearts, thank you for not forgetting about these precious children.