I am writing this out of deep despair. I wish I were writing to launch a project to help Palestinians back home in Gaza. I’m reaching out with a personal plea for help.

I am Ibrahim Ashour, a Palestinian from Gaza, currently displaced in Berlin and in the midst of the asylum process. In December 2023, I lost my father, my sister, my brother, both of my apartments, and my entire livelihood.

In March 2024, we successfully evacuated my three daughters, Iliaa, Judi, and Julia, to Egypt. I then began attending language school in April and have since devoted myself to learning German in the hopes of rebuilding our lives. I used everything I had left to create some stability for my daughters. They are now safe in Egypt. It is a fragile peace that I am desperately trying to maintain.

I currently work part-time, but my income in Germany disqualifies me from receiving social benefits. To be able to obtain this job, I filled out a form from my current employer and shared it around April 2024, to finally have the approval on July 1st, 2024.

I applied for the Foreigners’ Office (Ausländerbehörde) in Berlin to allow me another contract I found, sadly, my job application was rejected due to my asylum status.

Despite my grief and despair, I continue to push forward. I am asking for your support to help provide for my children in Egypt. Your contributions will be used solely to ensure a basic livelihood for my daughters—Iliaa, Judi, and Julia.

Currently, I juggle over 50 hours a week between work, school, activism, and the pursuit of stable employment. While the little I have left will only last my daughters until August 1st, 2025.

The reality is that finding a new job takes both skills and time. In addition, it is often over eight weeks to hopefully obtain approval. It is a time I may not have.

I am asking for your support: to carry my daughters through the next year, so that we can sustain keeping them housed and safe while I continue to study, work, and find a path toward self-sufficiency.

Your contribution will give us a lifeline, you will help us with a chance to hold on to hope in a time of unimaginable loss.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Best Regards,

Ibrahim Ashour