Help Alaa and her family evacuate from Gaza to Canada

My name is Lauren and I’m running this campaign for my friend Alaa and her family. While they don’t want to leave their homeland, the current situation is forcing them to – and they have an incredible opportunity to emigrate to Canada, so they’re looking for your support. Please read on for a message from her.

My name is Alaa and I’m from Gaza. I’m married and am a mother to five beautiful children, the youngest of whom is 3 years old. My children are Fakhry (13 years old), Ali (8 years old), Adnan (6 years old), Batool (4 years old), and Yousef (3 years old).

Living in Gaza means that I have now been through five wars – each time I and my family miraculously survived. But we’ve already lost many family members and friends in this war alone – we’ve lost two of the best doctors in our family along with their families and children. God bless them. My husband lost his shop, which was our only way to earn money. We were forced to leave our home, and so we're now staying in Rafah – the photo below shows us, our children, and some extended family members standing at the location we're living at now.

It’s been especially painful to see the impact of this war on my children. Let me tell you a little bit about them children and the impact this war has had on them:

Fakhry is in middle school. Before the war, he was full of energy and dreams. He looked forward to his classes. The war has now destroyed his school. He now asks me regularly, "Mom, when will I go back to school?" The stress of the war has caused him to lose weight.

Ali was in primary school a month before the war. Now, with all the bombing he asks me, "Mom, will I die?" I can’t answer that question, nor the questions of my other children when they ask “when will this war end? When can I sleep in my own bed again?” I can't bear to hear the cries of my children and their panic as the rockets fall and we hear the sound of the ambulance.

For my littlest ones, Adnan, Batool (in the photo above) and Yousef, I want to make sure that they're able to get access to education, clean food and water, and a safe environment.

I want to save my children and their lives no matter the cost.

In addition to the constant threat of death due to war, we are also suffering from the lack of electricity, clean water, and food. The health situation is very bad as well – there are no hospitals and no medication. We can’t get any of the basic necessities of life.

So I have reached out to several countries to accept us as refugees, and we’ve gotten a yes from Canada – which is exciting because it means I can take my family to a safe place where we can rebuild our lives. However, to be able to complete the process with Canada, we need to first reach the Canadian embassy in Cairo. It’s expensive to leave Gaza and get to Egypt, so that’s why we’re running this GoFundMe.

I’m raising $35,000 USD, which will go towards:

Your support will make a difference – will not only help ensure the physical safety of my family, but it will also provide them with a chance to rebuild their lives in a stable environment. I want to give my children the same chance that other children around the world get.

Any donation size helps, and we also ask for your support in sharing this campaign

In closing, I’d like to leave you with some photos of our beautiful life that we had together before the war. We’re optimistic that your support will help us return to happier days.