<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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Emily Writes

Abigail Bidwell

Anonymous

Miyuki Stewart

Aorangi Kora

Geraldine Gilligan

Janet Miller

Help a family in Gaza rebuild their home & lives

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

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3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

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template_id

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npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help a family in Gaza rebuild their home & lives

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