Help a Young Artist-Animator & Family Escape Gaza
Donation protected
Hello, to be transparent, please note that although I am still able to accept donations, Go Fund Me has frozen the ability to withdraw from the account for the time being while they gather more information which I have provided to them. If they deem us unable to withdraw the funds, you will get a refund through Go Fund Me. If you would like to donate directly to Ola without Go Fund Me as a middleman, please see this link: DIRECT DONATION OPTION or paste the link below into your browser or go to my website: www.lydiagreer.com and there is a link at the top left of my website.
Who am I? I am Lydia, an artist/director/animator and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Who am I raising funds for? I am raising funds directly for Artist/Director/Animator and Children's Animation Teacher Ola Abdel Latif Barakat and 6 of her family members to get out of southern Gaza and to purchase food and water whenever possible. We will start by trying to help Ola Abdul Latif Kamal Barakat and Kamal Abdul Latif Kamal Barakat, who have their passports and are working to get the rest of the family's papers in order. But they are working on that in the face of imminent threat, internet and power outages, and lack of sufficient food and water. Her and her family's lives are in imminent danger alongside other innocent civilians. They are in a tent shelter in southern Gaza.
How will she use the funds? She will use the funds to pay the expensive fees to leave Gaza for Egypt using brokers. There is no other way out. This is unethical that these fees are imposed upon the people of Gaza but we would all do the same (raise money) to save our own lives and family members lives if we were trapped and this was only way out or face death by bombing or starvation. We will also use the funds to purchase food and water for her family whenever possible.
How will she receive the funds? I will send the funds directly to Ola Abdel Latif Barakat through her friend. We have a system that has been tested and vetted. Please reach out to Ola directly with any concerns or questions.
Let's humanize each other and help save lives NOW! People are trapped in Gaza right now, and their lives are actively in danger. Ola is an artist I have connected with personally because we are both animators, artists, and teachers. I reached out through Instagram to see if I could screen her film in a fundraiser for humanitarian aid, and we have gotten to know each other. I am raising funds for Artist/Animator and Children's Animation Teacher Ola Abdel Latif Barakat and 6 of her family members to get out of southern Gaza. Her and her family's lives are in imminent danger. They are living in a tent in Southern Gaza, displaced from their home, which has been destroyed, and suffering alongside their fellow Palestinian citizens due to the Israeli Government Bombings and lack of food, water, and other basic necessities. There are 7 total in the family that we are working to help go to Egypt at 7k a piece for the exorbitant fees charged to cross the border to Egypt.
I wish I could singlehandedly force real peace, ceasefire, and long-term equity, but this IS something we CAN do TODAY for a family who is living this horror in real-time through no fault of their own. Help them survive.
And keep pushing our governments and leaders for a CEASEFIRE and PEACE.
See the links on Ola's work and experience at the links below
Our story: I reached out to Ola to ask her permission to show one of her animated films and include her perspective for a fundraiser for humanitarian aid (at Shapeshifters Cinema in Oakland CA on March 23rd ) in Gaza in late February. She agreed to allow me to share her work and personal statement, and we will show one of her notable films created before the bombardment. I will read her statement in her own words about who she is and her experience in Gaza before and during the war.
Ola in her own words:
" I am Ola Abdel Latif Barakat, a director and maker of stop-motion cartoon films and an animation coach. I am 24 years old. I started directing at the age of 18. I received training in making cartoon films using stop-motion technology. I worked for over five years, providing animation workshops for children in schools and institutions.
Two years ago, in one of the training workshops for children in schools, I met Rama, the heroine of the story of my movie " Come & Go.” During the workshop, the children tell their stories about situations/experiences that had happened to them. After that, the stories are directed and turned into animated films. The story of Rama experiencing gender discrimination remained in my memory, and I decided to start working on it as an animated film. I felt I had to direct the story because gender discrimination is widespread in society. The characters were created by drawing on paper, cutting them out, and animating them using stop-motion technology. The movie talks about the girl Rama who lives with her family consisting of father, mother, and brother older than her, she has a dream that she wants to achieve, but there is an obstacle in front of her, which is her brother with many orders and requests that do not stop.
There are many challenges and difficulties that I faced in filmmaking, and among these challenges were the power outages during the day for more than 12 hours. this had a negative impact on my work in terms of filming stopping completely. Many raw materials used in creating the characters and the environment were also unavailable. Due to the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation, young people are completely restricted from bringing in the equipment, devices, and raw materials used in filmmaking, so films are produced in a very simple manner and with somewhat average quality. All of this happened before the war on Gaza.
Now my private projects and business have been lost.
I fled from my destroyed home to a safer area, but there is no safety anywhere in Gaza...
I am talking to you now, while I am in the war in Gaza. I faced death a lot, but here I am still alive. Now I am fighting to survive with my family.
I live in a tent with many families displaced from their homes.
I hope this war ends and peace prevails in Gaza.
Thank you for your effort and I appreciate your work.
I am happy to share my work with you.
I hope to see you after the war ends in peace.
Thanks.
I, Ola Barakat, give permission to Lydia Greer to be responsible for collecting donations through GoFundMe.
my regards,
Ola
Organizer
Lydia Greer
Organizer
Alameda, CA