Help Majd and his family to travel and survive

I am organizing this fundraiser for my friends Majd Awad and Loujain Al Nadi and their family. I have known them since April 1st, 2024 and I have been fundraising for them with many others who care about their family’s safety and health.

Majd and Loujain have two young sons, Ahmed (2 yrs) and their newborn baby, Adam. Majd and Loujain are from the North of Gaza. They lived on El Nadeem Street in Al Zeitoon, the olive neighbourhood. Selling footwear and working in construction, Majd had used his savings to build their home. Some of Majd and Loujain’s fondest memories are of their mornings together with their son before Majd would go to work. They loved having breakfast together in their own home, just the three of them and Majd would often go out to the market in the morning and bring them something to make for breakfast.

On Oct. 27th, 2023 Majd and Loujain and their families were displaced to the South. They stayed in Rafah in a displacement camp, lining up for water and eating canned food from the air dropped aid. They began fundraising for themselves and all of their family members to be able to leave Gaza.

Before dawn on May 6th, many neighbours’ residences were targeted and Majd and Loujain awoke to flashing lights and people buried under rubble. They received a displacement warning, giving them hours to leave their shelter. The border closed. They packed quickly and had no idea where to go. Majd’s father, Ahmed, has disability due to a spinal injury and had spinal surgery in 2019. He had been receiving physio therapy until their family’s main home was destroyed and they were displaced. He suffered greatly in pain with increasing lack of mobility during their displacement.

Majd and Loujain moved to the heat of Al Mawasi.

Majd quickly secured a tent with financial assistance from his friend in the US. In Al Mawasi, there were no necessities of life. The feeling of remoteness and lack of water and resources felt intense and ominous, the heat unbearable. Majd would walk five kilometres each day to find internet connection to reach out for help and try to grow their fundraiser. He would take their son to the seaside, determined to stay optimistic and support Ahmed’s emotional well-being with a change of scene.

Majd’s sisters and brother and their families were also displaced in the South and have endured immense suffering, grieved after loss and witnessing the effects of deprivation and weather exposure on their young children.

Majd supports his parents and his siblings and Loujain’s family and the stress and pressure of this without any income was too much to bear.

As the heat of summer set in, the remoteness and the impossibility to function and survive were quickly deciding factors in Majd and Loujain moving out of Al Mawasi. They moved inland to a school with Loujain’s family. There, there was no water or electricity. The bombings at the school began. During the nights in May and June, they were threatened with death over and over as the building was increasingly destroyed by aerial bombardments. Fires blazed all around them at night. Majd would grab Loujain and Ahmed and run out of the building into the street where they waited until the morning in shock from the bombings. Over three months of this, they continued to stay there. It was cooler than Al Mawasi. They continued to experience more bombings and witnessed many deaths of men, women and children. During a ground invasion on June 8th, they quickly ran out into the street with both their families and their children, carrying shoes and belongings as quadcopters and IOF killed over two hundred people. Further bombings occurred, more bombings loomed and after being threatened with leaflets warning them to leave the school’s neighborhood, they decided to leave again to Mawasi Khan Younis and back into the heat and remoteness. Majd built them a spacious tent with wood, wool blankets and nylon. He built a toilet next to the tent which took him days. They endured a brutal summer without a fan or anything to cool them and grew skilled in fetching water from the trucks. Walking into town and to the markets, they were close to incidents where people were shelled and killed right beside them. They would return to the tent in fear and share what they had on hand. One night, it was just a block of feta cheese. Other nights they sleep hungry with sore stomachs and headaches. It is very dangerous to travel within Gaza.

Majd and Loujain and their families want to leave Gaza and start a new life in a safe place.

Majd and Loujain have lost their home and their car, their investments and their dreams. They have lost many friends and loved ones.

Help their family to be sustained through this nightmare and help them to leave for safety as soon as possible. Your donations will be part of a movement supported by people from all over the world, donating and sustaining their family and moving them to safety.

Majd and Loujain are very grateful for everyone who has helped them on this journey. Help them to start a new life.

Funds will be transferred to Majd and Loujain weekly or bi-weekly to support them in buying food and necessities for their family and milk and diapers for their new baby. Funds will also be saved for their travel expenses and settlement, as soon as travel is possible.

Food and necessities are very expensive now in Gaza and the prices just keep increasing. A cost breakdown will be completed in a few days, in line with current prices.

Egypt fees: $50,000: Travel cost for each one of Majd and Loujain’s family members (as $5000 for one person and $2500 for each child) to pay to the proper legal Egyptian authorities or to Hala Company

There will be 13 members traveling with the raised money from this fundraiser, seven adults and six children:

Majd (26 yo)

Loujain (20 yo)

Ahmed (2 yo)

Adam (2 mo)

Ahmed (father 53 yo)

Ghada (mother 50 yo)

Mohammed (brother 26 yo)

Dina (sister 28 yo)

Wasim (Dina’s son 4 yo)

Juri (Dina’s daughter 2 yo)

Dalia (sister 22 yo)

Batol (Dalia’s son 2 yo)

Habib (Dalia’s daughter 6 mo)

This fundraiser is in Canadian dollars which are 0.72 to the US dollar so that difference is accounted for. For thirteen family members to travel, the cost is $50,000 US or $86,000 cdn.

Additionally, funds may be withdrawn at weekly or biweekly intervals when needed to cover arising expenses, to pay for food, water, milk formula, diapers and necessities such as detergent, household goods and nylon sheets for tent repairs.

The goal will be adjusted to reflect this at a later date, as the fundraiser nears its goal.

When needed, transfers will be made by the organizer, using Western Union and MoneyGram which the organizer has used before to transfer collected donations for the family’s immediate needs.

To give an idea of costs incurred living in the South of Gaza, the following is a list of some of the average prices of food and necessities, some with their increases since 2023:

Flour has risen to $400 US for a 25kg bag. Before Oct 2023, the price of a bag of flour at the store was 25 shekels or $8 US. It is very difficult to find flour now and its available size is 25kg.

A kilo of beef costs $150 US.

A kilo of sugar costs $50 US.

1 kilo of tomatoes costs $50 US.

A kilo of potatoes can cost $100 US.

A litre of vegetable oil for frying is $40 US.

One diaper is $2 US.

One box of milk formula for babies is $100 US.

These are prices as of November 23rd, 2024.

Thank you for your support to Majd and Loujain’s family.