Help Ayman's family to survive

Dear fellow human being,

This fundraiser is being organized by me, Ellen Omvlee, from The Netherlands. I am doing this on behalf of the Qudaih family in Gaza.

Photo: Ayman with his yougest daughter Rama

I met Ayman Qudaih in december 2024 via Linkedin. Over time we built trust and I have decided to start this fundraiser for him and his family of nine people, to help them survive.

It is a harsh reality that their survival entirely depends on your donations. They lost everything, their home, their jobs, their land where Ayman grew vegetables and fruits, the school of the children. Everyday they are living in harsh conditions, trying to survive.

Your donation means nothing less than the difference between hunger and being able to eat. I sincerely hope that you will be part of the lifeline for Ayman, his wife and 5 children, his brother and mother (who are both wheelchair bound).

I will let Ayman speak now and after that I will I explain my role in this campaign.

***

Hello world: I am Ayman, a teacher from Gaza, 44 years old, father of 5 children in the age from 13 to 3 years old. I was living a life full of happiness in a beautiful simple house, in Kuza'a, with my wife who is a university lecturer. We had a garden full of trees, land where I grew vegetables and fruit, I kept bees for honey. Our house was a safe and happy place for the children. But our situation changed tragically in the end of 2023.

We heard loud explosions while the children were getting ready for school, we wondered what was going on? We learned about the war, we panicked, we decided to flee in search of safety. We took refuge in schools, but we did not find sufficient safety there. Our house has been destroyed.

Photo: Ayman in front of the rubble of his house

Many times after that we were displaced. After de ceasfire in januari we returned to what was left of our home, a pile of rubble. But when the ceasefire was broken, we had to flee again and had to leave behind the things we had collected.

Photo: Nisreen with three of the children outside the tent

We live in harsh conditions in a tent. We lost many memories and dreams, lost our jobs, suffer from hunger and thirst. Our children haven't been able to go to school since October 2023. We live in constant fear, surrounded by frustration, sadness and anxiety, struggling for life.

Photo: left: Ayman's mother, right: Ayman's brother and in the middle one of the sons of Ayman

Despite all this, I still try to be strong, I tell my children stories,I encourage them not to lose hope. I tell them: "The war will end and we will return to our land, we will plant our garden and rebuild our house."

My friends in the humanitarian world, every small donation you provide to us means nothing less than being able to survive.

We need funds for living expenses, shelter, clothing and medical care:

(these are the prices of 30 April 2025)

Photo: eating together in the tent

Everything has become scarce, so it has become increasingly difficult to obtain certain foods and everything has become very expensive.

Please be a part of our lifeline by donating, every donations means a lot to us.

Thank you so much for your humanity, help and support for my family,

Ayman Qudaih

***

The organizer of the campaign:

I am Ellen Omvlee from The Netherlands and I have organized this campaign, to help Ayman and his family to survive and give a little reassurance that there are still people on this world caring about them.

Updates:

I update the campaign a couple of times a week, so that you can always follow what your donation has made possible, like buying food, medicine or clothes.

Options for donating:

For The Netherlands there is an donate option via IDEAL besides PayPal or CreditCard. You can always contact me when you have questions.

What happens with your donation:

Transfers to banc accounts in Gaza are restricted, so I receive the donations and transfer the collected funds to Ayman's PayPal. You can read in the updates what the donations already have made possible for Ayman and his family.

Whenever there is a point that I can't transfer it by any means to him, I will give the money to stichting Plant een Olijfboom, a Dutch charity organisation who supports people of Gaza and Palestine.

Whenever you have questions, you can reach out to me, I will always answer.

Thank you!

Kind regards,

Ellen Omvlee