Help me become an Occupational Therapist

Help me become an Occupational Therapist

I am Ibrahim Abu Alfa, a Palestinian from Gaza Strip/Nsairat Camp, a student at Al-Aqsa University studying Occupational Therapy. I am hardworking and love my studies. In an instant, everything changed, my university, my dreams, my life and aspiration all turned to ashes.

I and my family were displaced from our home and were forced to look for safe place and a shelter. When in fact there is no safe place in Gaza.

Due to heavy bombardment my family decided to leave Nsairat Camp in January and refuge to Rafah, our home is now a plastic tent without the slightest necessities of life or humanity, without food, water or even the medicine necessary to my elderly mother who suffers from neurological disease.

Life is shattered, living is a hardship, January was so cold this year, we were shivering from the extreme cold and this plastic tent didn’t prevent the winter rain falling over our heads and bodies. How painful to hear my mum’s screams from the pain she is enduring and more painful to feel crippled by my inability to do anything. I stopped counting my failed attempts to get her the medicine that she needed. Gaza is barely surviving while my torture is also a living torture inside me, failing to alleviate my mum’s pain and watching her deteriorate day by day. On numerous times, I visited as many health centres and pharmacies and hospitals walking from one place to another, but none were able to help! It’s extremely hard to imagine my self-transformed from being a fresh student at the new Occupational Therapy Bachelor degree programme with an inspiration to prosperous in my career or better say my “calling”, to suddenly all what I am thinking of is how to provide our daily water and food and medicine to my mum. I never in my dreams thought my family may die from hunger! Or for my mum to sleep hungry.

My brother and I would spend 8 hours on daily basis to just get some flour (if lucky) and make some bread. Everything is a project, baking is a chore, gathering some sticks, cardboards or anything that can burn to put on the fire, making a cup of tea or cook anything that is available. Some small bags of vegetables distributed by the youth donated by the kind people who are still thinking of us. We would bake the bread and then share this one loaf of bread amongst us all. A bite that I am embarrassed to have, thinking of the many other families who will have none. This is because they either can’t afford buying the flour or for being unavailable at all. It never crossed my mind that some families will resort to grinding animal grains food to eat them for bread.

Every night passes waiting for the day light, hoping it brings with it a better future, but these quickly turns darker and I feel numb, witnessing inhuman scenes that no brain can even imagine. Children exposed to terror like none and families shattered or totally vanished from earth.

After 2 months living in this plastic tent, we decided to take the risk and go back home, as my mother was unable to handle anymore the soreness of living rough. I would describe the journey back home like hell, long walks with my frail mum, navigating damaged streets and rubbles with smells of death filling the place, life lost its colour but grey. We got to our neighbourhood and although we found our house partially damaged, living in one damaged room and amongst the stones of our home built over the years by my passed hard working father was millions times better than that plastic tent.

Nothing is the same, no people, no children playing, no plants, just emptiness, so dark, except the lights from random ongoing bombs. No place is safe, but we are capsuled by our lovely home (half of it) and a family that will bring love and belonging, truly there is “no place like home”, regardless of all the risks associated with living here.

We have spent all our savings on essential necessities and now even those are rare and difficult to find. No work, no income, no support. Like thousands of people, our daily routine spent trying to seek some food and bring some water, we are relying heavily on canned food and some wild greenery found here and there (khobaizeh) has been our precious saviour in Gaza. I think we need to add it our Palestinian flag!

I spend 3 days of my week volunteering and helping the injured, my previous OT diploma degree came very handy and the focussed on duty of care and rights of human to occupation. I try to use my skills guided by the needs of the people I meet, I learnt that skills of OT are driven by the people we meet and in need, and the people of Gaza are beyond humans they are heroes with unbelievable resilience, strength and love to live. There isn’t a single person who is left untouched, ongoing physical and psychological traumas everywhere, bodies in pieces, children dying from hunger, pregnant women delivering prematurely, mothers unable to breastfeed and not enough formula milk. We walk pass buildings destroyed and family members calling for loved ones. The sufferings extend, and the languages of the world would fail to describe.

You know what? These past months have made me more determined to wanting to finish my studies and return back equipped with the appropriate knowledge, skills and registration to help my people, the people that will rise again, the Gaza that will rebuild again.

As I embark on this journey to continue my education beyond the confines of Gaza, I am humbly reaching out to you, dear supporters, for your generosity and kindness. Your donation will not only help me pursue my dreams but will also symbolise a beacon of hope for countless others seeking to break free from the constraints of circumstance. Together, we can make a tangible difference in the lives of individuals striving for a brighter future. Every contribution, no matter how small, brings me one step closer to realizing my aspirations. With your support, I can transcend the limitations imposed by geographical boundaries and forge a path towards academic excellence. Thank you for considering my cause and for standing in solidarity with the Palestinians and those yearning for educational opportunities beyond borders. Your support will not only transform my life but also empower me to inspire positive change in my community and beyond. Donate today and become a catalyst for change!