<div>I am Richard &amp; I am an Art Education professor in Ohio &amp; I originally set up this GoFundMe to support the familiy of an artist friend in Gaza to help them rebuild their home &amp; lives. Now, they are trying to rebuild and find food in Gaza. Please donate if you can. Below is Saja's story, with a recent update:
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<div>UPDATE September 2025
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<div>An urgent update from Saja in Gaza - please donate to her
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<div>campaign to help her &amp; her young family escape the violence. (Link in bio). Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, but this one last push will make all the difference!
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<div>"The occupation is demanding that residents evacuate Gaza City, and each family needs to cover the cost of displacement, which amounts to approximately $5,000. This includes covering the cost of shipping and transporting belongings, purchasing a tent that doesn't protect against the summer heat or the winter cold, renting a place to set up the tent, and building a bathroom. All these costs are required to evacuate to a place they claim is safe; however, there is no safe place in Gaza. I hope you will support me and help me and my children reach a safe place."
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<div>UPDATE March 2025
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<div>The siege and hunger are getting worse for us in Gaza, all the crossings are closed, there is no outlet for food, drink or any of the necessities of life to enter. Our children need good food, milk, eggs and chicken to strengthen their bodies. But their bodies have become weak and fragile from lack of food; they crave sweets like children around the world but they cannot find them. Help us feed our children.
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<div>Welcome
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<div>My name is Saja Matar. Specialized in SEO and content writing; I am reaching out for support to get me and my family out of Gaza; Mahmoud; Saja; Yahya; Maria; We have endured unbearable and unimaginable hardships and stress for nearly 8 months. Each day becomes more dangerous and worse than the day before.
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<div>Despite the constant bombing, destruction, and death, we have demonstrated the strongest signs of steadfastness and strength in the face of the difficulties we are experiencing.
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<div>We were forced to leave our home; Which was destroyed by the occupation, and I lost my laptop and my work tools. We walked 5 kilometers, carrying my children in our hands until our feet were swollen, and we only had the clothes we were wearing, leaving behind everything we owned.
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<div>I am reaching out to raise funds that will allow me and my family to escape these disastrous and deadly conditions. The goal is to move us to a safer place outside Gaza and away from imminent danger. We are asked to pay about $5,000 per person to allow us to leave Gaza.
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<div>It is very difficult to describe what we have been experiencing in Gaza since October 7; We lived in Gaza for nearly a month under constant bombardment after the residential compounds around us were bombed, causing rubble to fall on top of us and house window panes to fall on our heads. My family and I were hurt. We went out to UNRWA displacement sites; In a very small room, there were 20 people. We sleep while sitting due to lack of space. The place continued to be bombarded with smoke and phosphorous bombs, causing me and my children to suffocate, forcing us to leave Gaza to the south, but we held out until the moment when the occupation forces approached us with tanks, the sound of which we could hear very close, and their shells above our heads, until the blackness of my hair mixed with the whiteness of Intensity of fear. Famine began to spread in Gaza. Then we left for the south to save my children from death.
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<div>We moved to Al-Wusta, where relatives' homes were crowded with large numbers of people at home. With the lack of work in Gaza due to the war, lack of money and high prices, it has become difficult to provide food and drinking water, making us all weak and vulnerable to diseases due to pollution.
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<div>Although we left Gaza for the central region, which the occupation claims are safe areas, we lived under constant bombardment, constant danger everywhere, and the annoying sounds of gunfire and intelligence aircraft.
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<div>After the hunger, fear and danger that we experienced in the central region of the Gaza Strip, the occupation announced that it would conduct ground operations in these areas and we were forced to evacuate them.
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<div>We went from Al-Wusta to Rafah, where he also claimed to be safer. And the international uproar that we thought would prevent the occupation from harming Rafah. We lived in shelter centers where disease spread due to pollution, lack of water, and overpopulation, which forced us to go out to a place that most resembled a desert near the Egyptian border, where there was no water, no population, and no ingredients to help us live. And my children’s constant crying from extreme hunger, thirst, and extreme cold; And predatory dogs hover around our tent. My son fell ill due to the lack of treatment and hospitals to treat him, and no good food to strengthen him from the disease, which exacerbated his condition for a month and a half of illness.
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<div>We stayed for 4 months in the displacement camps in Rafah until Rafah was stormed and we were threatened to leave.
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<div>We returned to the central area in the tents. After the difficulty of transportation due to the lack of transportation and its high prices, we remained in the Deir al-Balah area, like those who were displaced from Rafah. The great suffering represented by the lack of available water is only with great difficulty and effort. The tent is still our mobile home in the intense heat, making the tent resemble a volcano with its heat.
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<div>As in all stages of displacement, there is no nutritious and useful food available, and what food is available is prepared over a fire due to the lack of cooking gas, which leads to fatigue, pollution, and suffocation. The lack of clothing for us and our children to protect us from the heat of summer and the cold of winter, and the lack of shoes to walk in, led to the fact that most people began to walk barefoot in Gaza. We are still living in the conditions of war and its suffering represented by the daily death of large numbers of civilians and the tragic conditions that result from food insecurity after the occupation closed all crossings and the lack of water, medicine, gas and the Internet.
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<div>My family members are:
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<div>My husband, who used to work in selling perfumes before the war, and because of the war, like all workers in Gaza, he lost his job and we became without a source of livelihood.
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<div>My son, Yahya, who is seven years old, lost his important education to establish him in the first grades due to the war. He lost his friends who were martyred and lost a childhood life full of play, as the children of the world live.
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<div>My daughter Maria, whose cheeks are red from the hot sun of the tents; The four-year-old girl was only aware of the sound of planes, bombing, and images of death and blood, and this was reflected in her actions due to her extreme fear of bombing.
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<div>What we need to do is leave the Gaza Strip, pay the government processing fees, which cost between $5,000 and $6,000 per person, and reach Egypt safely.
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<div>We will also need to provide for living expenses, including house rent for at least 6 months and other living costs, in order to obtain a suitable job opportunity.
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<div>What you are giving us is great support and support for the injustice we are subjected to, and we thank you for your efforts with us.
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Anonymous

Emily Writes

Geraldine Gilligan

Help a family in Gaza rebuild their home & lives

Still $18,465 to go. Help us build momentum.