Dear Friends,

I am Yasmeen and I live in Gaza. My husband Hannan and I got married 7 years ago ( since 2017 ) one year after we got our first baby ( Ahed 6 years now ) we were so happy to have him , and we were very excited the last year because he was finally able to go to school but sadly the war came and he lost all his rights of education, playing and everything he need in his age. We lived a beautiful life together as a little family and every Friday my husband used to take us to the beach in our car , eating snacks , ice cream and running and playing on the beach sands , swimming in the sea , four years after we finally decided to have another baby. I was really happy when the doctor told me it was a girl because I wanted a baby sister for Ahed and 9 months later we finally got baby Elya ( she is 18 months now ). When the war started she was only 8 months we bought a lot of beautiful stuff to her , I made a photoshoot for her. I wanted to make a counting video from 1 to 12 but I couldn’t am really sad , our life was so much better . We used to have a lot of entertainment places to go with my family and my husband family but the war came and we lost every single thing , our house and even our beautiful memories, my husband job and Ahed school …. Our house was bombed on 10th of October( 3 days after the war started). We lost everything) I went to my parents house , there was my father , we stayed there for 3 or 4 days , you cannot imagine how the situation was , so scary and dangerous then Gazan civilians were told to move from the north of Gaza to the south, we were scared so we forced to go to Khanyounis ( our first displacement) we stayed there for two months and we got displaced again to Rafah ( we stayed there for 6 months ) so we got displaced again to Dier Al Balah and live in a tent ( which is so hard) , the sands everywhere, there is no clean water nor clean place and the bugs are everywhere and the heat is killing us during the day (we are in the middle of July and the weather is extremely hot we are literally burning), Elya gets fevers, above all of that we can face death in anytime you don’t know when will be you turn to say goodbye to this world and you may die alone leaving you children behind in this cruel world or maybe they left you alone you don’t know what will happen.

Kindly -Yasmeen

Sponsor note:

My name is Kathleen Reyes, and I’m reaching out on behalf of my dear friend, Yasmeen. I graduated from NYU in 2000, and now I’m a mom of two, living in Brooklyn, NY. Yasmeen' family (especially little Elya) are going through unimaginable hardship, and I’m committed to making sure every donation goes directly to keeping Yasmeen and her family safe. I'll never give up hope that Yasmeen can reunite with loved ones in Jordan.

The costs to escape (let alone eat and seek shelter) are overwhelming for Yasmeen. Here’s what they’ve been facing:

Border Crossing Fees: $5,000 per adult (2 adults = $10,000)

Border Crossing Fees for Children: $2,500 per child (2 children = $5,000)

ID and Passport Processing Fees: $1,000

Proof of Living Expenses per person: $5,000= $20,000

Proof of Rent for 3 Months: $2,500

Total Needed per Family: $38,500

Add'l Amount Needed for Our Father:

Border Crossing: $2,500

Proof of Living Expenses: $5,000

Goal: $38,500 for Yasmeen’s family of four and any additional amounts will help the campaigns for Yasmeen’s father, brothers, sister, nieces, and nephews. And if they continue to be prevented from crossing, then please let's help them to stay safe, to stay fed and to create a permanent shelter.

Please, can you help by donating?- Kathleen