Help Us Find Safety

I am raising money to help evacuate my 4 cousins and their families from the genocide in Gaza. They are from a refugee family that was forcibly displaced from Yaffa and Al-Lidd in 1948 where their family lost everything and had to start anew in a refugee camp. Their parents were born and raised in Gaza’s camps, as were my cousins. Today, their family has again lost everything, but before they can start over, they need to find safety. Something that they have made clear in describing their most pressing needs is how deeply they value education. After survival, their primary concern is education—for themselves, their husbands, and their children. Please help them find safety and allow them the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Please read below for more information on each of them: Zolfa, Genan, Besan, and Yaqeen.

Zolfa Baker, 34, mother of three

Zolfa is a homemaker and mother of three. Her husband was accepted into a PhD program in Malaysia and, on the basis of that visa, has traveled to Egypt with their children awaiting Zolfa’s arrival to join the family. Zolfa and her husband Mohammad have lost their life savings and cannot afford to pay the steep fee to evacuate Zolfa to travel with the remainder of her family. Zolfa seeks assistance in evacuating to Egypt, traveling to Malaysia, and in starting over in Malaysia until she and her family can safely return to Gaza. Zolfa hopes to flee on an expedited basis, which requires an added fee, because her children and husband are living without her.

Family members seeking evacuation: Zolfa Baker.

Message from Zolfa: On day 57 of the war, the occupation forces targeted my home with an airstrike while I was seeking shelter and safety in it. They targeted our residential block and 20 people were killed from my husband’s family and our neighbors. My husband, children, and I shockingly survived. I went to my parents’ home for a short period and then we evacuated to tents in Rafah. I lived in the Mawasi area for four months in a small tent and we suffered greatly through the winter and then the hot season came too.

After 4 attempts to travel together from the Rafah land crossing, my husband and children safely evacuated to Egypt, without me. I failed in my attempt to leave with them. I chose for my two sons and daughter to have a chance at life by evacuating with their father. And I remained here in Gaza under bombardment in search of a way to follow them. The war ended my husband’s job as a high school computer science teacher and as a university lecturer. It ended his studies for his PhD. He has student residency in Malaysia on the verge of ending and a travel visa. And I am trapped in Gaza unable to travel and join my family and without the means to flee death.

Expenses:

$7500 USD fees for evacuating Gaza

$400 USD Palestinian passports for her children who fled Gaza with no passports

$1200 USD flights to Malaysia

$1000 USD medical and healthcare

$900 USD a laptop for Zolfa’s husband to use for his PhD studies

$2100 USD tuition for 3 children

$2400 USD 6 months rent of a small apartment in Malaysia

$2000 USD 6 months of expenses for a family of 5

$2000 USD fees for Zolfa’s husband’s PhD program

Total $19,500 USD

Genan Baker, 33, mother of 3

Genan’s biggest priority in life is her children’s education. She prides herself on the academic excellence of her children and their Quranic memorization. When schools in Gaza shutdown in October 2023, she refused to allow her children to fall behind and taught them the remainder of their curriculums. In addition, her eldest, Jana, has memorized 9 juz since the start of the war and her second child, Ahmad, has memorized 7 juz.

Family members seeking evacuation:

Fadi Elhaj, 43, physical therapist

Genan Baker, 32, homemaker

Jana Elhaj, 12

Ahmad Elhaj, 10

Bilal Elhaj, 6

Message from Genan: My children’s education is my top priority. My children are top students and win regional academic competitions. Ahmad was ranked second in his school in a competition for Quranic recitation. Jana entered mathematics, English, and poetry competitions but the competitions did not take place because of the war. My kids are memorizing the Quran but because of the war there are no memorization programs, so I have focused on helping them finish their memorization. Jana knows 22 juz and Ahmad 16. My husband has spent much of the war volunteering his services to the injured at whatever clinic or hospital near to us, depending on where we have evacuated.

It is important to note that we do not know when the war will end, maybe a year, maybe more, maybe less. We do not know if we will be permitted to work in Egypt. We have lost all of our life savings and will need housing, food, and a means for educating our kids.

Expenses:

$17,500 USD evacuation to Egypt for 2 adults and 3 children

$700 USD passports

$3000 USD rent

$4500 USD living expenses: groceries and other necessities

$2000 USD tuition for 3 children

$600 USD formal Quran memorization program for Jana and Ahmad

$3200 USD to start Fadi’s physical therapy practice

$1500 USD medical and healthcare expenses, including mental health support

Total: $33,000 USD

“Cover your head and neck with a pillow”

by Jana Elhaj, 12, Genan’s daughter

Cover your head and neck with a pillow

I heard this sentence from my mother

After over 200 days, I ask how will a pillow protect me, mother?

And from what?

From the artillery shells? Or from the missiles? Or the white phosphorus bombs?

The thought of death calls to us every moment.

How will we die?

Will we feel pain?

Will we bleed?

Who will rescue us from beneath the rubble?

Will our bodies be shredded to pieces, left for the dogs to gnaw?

We evacuated more than three times to escape death

Gaza now hosts no life and ails of death and pain. Nothing else.

Why have we been deprived of all our rights?

Why are we not entitled to live like the rest of the world’s children?

My brothers and I want to complete our educations

I am always the top ranked student and I have memorized 22 juz from the Quran

I love poetry and reciting it

I want to find joy with even the most basic of what I’m entitled to

Help my reach my goal to exit Gaza with my family

Give me a childhood, give me life

Besan Baker, 31, iOS developer and mother of 2

Besan is a star student and a devoted mother. She is a highly skilled professional and kind and patient mother and wife. She is brilliant and driven, sarcastic and witty. Besan lives in Shati camp, one of the most densely populated areas in Gaza. She knew she could not remain in her home as the war raged on and fled south from the first week of the war. She has lost everything she and her husband have built. She is grieving family and friends killed in the most violent of deaths. She simply want to survive and keep her children safe. She wants the opportunity to work to support her family and meet their needs.

Family members seeking evacuation:

Ahmad Almis’hal, 35, MBA, worked in education.

Besan Baker, 31, IT BS, IT masters student, previously employed as an iOS developer

Judy Almis’hal, 7

Mariam Almis’hal, 4

‎Message from Besan: We have survived 200 days of war. I was displaced from my home in Al-Shati camp to my family’s home in Al-Maghazi on October 13, 2023. I do not know the condition of my home, except that it is still standing and is peppered with shells from all directions. We were displaced on December 28 to Rafah, and I was separated from my family and sisters, and I stayed with my husband’s relatives, more than 20 people, in a house not exceeding 50 square meters. And my husband was in a tent next to the house. 45 of the harshest and most difficult days passed, then we returned to my family’s house, even though it was damaged by artillery shells and destroyed by the Israeli soldiers who searched it.

My husband's work stopped and I lost my job at the beginning of the war. We lost what we had saved, spending everything we had to survive. My university and my daughter's school were bombed, and there is no longer any hope for completing our educations. How long will we live just to escape death? Have we lost our right to a decent life as well?

Expenses:

$15,000 USD evacuation of 2 adults and 2 kids to Egypt

$3000 USD rent

$2600 USD expenses

$1200 USD education

$700 USD medical and healthcare expense

$400 USD passports

Total: $23,000 USD

Yaqeen Baker, 27, voiceover professional and mother of 2

Yaqeen is a talented writer and storyteller. Just during the war, her work has been featured in the LA Times and New York Times. She has written about being pregnant in the midst of a genocide and provided a compelling and evocative narrative on losing her home alongside a piece on domicide by the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing. She has incredible talent that deserves protection and honing. Journalists are under direct threat in Gaza and it is important that Yaqeen and her family be evacuated for their own safety.

Family members seeking evacuation:

Abdelrahman Abuamneh, 31, computer engineering degree, 8 years experience, employed as a web developer

Yaqeen Baker, 27, journalism and media BA, field of employment journalism and voiceovers

Salwa Abuamneh, 4

Nusaiba Abuamneh, 5 months

Message from Yaqeen: Year after year followed built on love, effort, and future plans. We built, lived, dug roots, raised a family, and developed our careers and practical and professional skills for a decent life. Until October 7th, when the war began, changing the course of our lives, eviscerating the fruit of years of toil, and making us feel the fear of loss. We lost our home and barely escaped with our lives.

We were displaced from the north to southern Gaza on the fifth day of the war. I gave birth to my second child on the fifty-first day by caesarean section. The lack of medical infrastructure and equipment almost claimed my life. I underwent two operations in one day, a birth operation and then a life-saving operation to stop my hemorrhage. My husband lost his job as a professional programmer with foreign companies, and I lost my advanced training in the field of voiceovers. We were separated from my family, brothers, and sisters.

After 83 days, we were displaced again. We lived through days of terror, with missiles and artillery shells surrounding us, and we prayed to God for salvation. We returned for the third evacuation after 130 days to my family’s damaged house. We were 4 families.

We lost many of our loved ones and relatives. My husband’s uncle, his cousins, and their families were martyred. Many of his work and childhood friends were martyred. My aunt and her daughter were martyred, and my university friend was martyred. Will we stay under bombardment awaiting the fate of our loved ones! Or will we survive with our two daughters, and start from scratch to establish a safe and dignified life?

We will search for work, and my daughter will resume her educational that was interrupted by the war. The war in Gaza continues and there are no current hope of it ending. The career and educational sectors in Gaza have completely collapsed, and our future has collapsed. Help us to save our lives before it is too late. Help us start over.

Expenses:

$15,000 USD to evacuate to Egypt

$3000 USD one year of rent

$3000 USD one year of expenses

$500 USD medical and healthcare

$1000 USD laptop for Yaqeen’s husband for work

Total: $22,500 USD

The funds will be wired to a relative in Egypt who will register them for travel with Egyptian company facilitating evacuations from Gaza. Evacuations take between 72 hours and one month, depending on the fee paid.