Help my family evacuate out of Gaza to safety

Hi my name is Lisa and I am organizing this fundraiser for my best friend and her family in Gaza

Here is her their letter to you!

Hello everyone,

My name is Asmaa. I am 22 years old, and I am from Gaza City, Palestine. I am in my last year in university, which I am unable to compete due to the war that we are currently living in for the last 7 months. I live with a large family of 9 people. We used to live in Gaza City, in the neighborhood of Al Remal, from which we moved at the beginning of the second month of the war to a place in the middle of the Gaza Strip due to the siege that took place in the North of Gaza. This is at our place, view out of my neighbors room, next to my room

-before

-after

When we reached the middle of the Gaza Strip, we moved into a home that belonged to a family friend. However, this house was occupied already by more than 50 people. We couldn’t stay there, so we went to a different family friend’s house, which also became occupied by more than 70 people as the war worsened.

Due to the lack of space, our family of 9 people had to sleep in a single small room that was not done being built, experiencing the harsh weather conditions and lack of bedding/ covers to coincide with the conditions we were living in.

In addition, due to the increase in prices of basic necessities and lack of supply, we found ourselves relying on eating one meal per day to get by and saving as much money as we can due to not having an income source as that was cut off when the war began. Here are some pictures:

-fill up water and carry it to the third floor-

-heating food over a wood fire-

-long night, where we are not able to sleep-

…

My family

My father worked as a computer engineer but lost his job, my freelance work in graphic design and digital art, as well as my sister’s work in digital marketing, all of which were impacted and no longer viable since the war began. It is all cut off. All of this together led to the depletion of my family’s savings which were meant to be used for a better future for us…

Now, the conditions continue to get more and more dangerous, and thus, there is no place that is safe anymore in the Gaza Strip.

The smell of death is found everywhere, and it threatens everyone’s safety. Every second is important to us. The conditions became worse due to the communication cut-off as well as not having access to the internet or electricity to even charge our phones, all of which make it difficult to communicate with the world, including our friends and family.

We need your help now more than ever. All we are trying to do is survive. I do not want to lose anyone from my family. I hope that we can reach safety as soon as possible before it is too late. This is the only option I have left.

My family consists of 9 people:

Children:

My sisters and I are still in the beginning of our lives. We are still students. Even during this time, I am preparing myself for graduation, and my sisters also continue to prepare themselves for their schools and education.

We are planning for a brighter and more successful future. We dream of a better tomorrow. We never expected this to happen. We thought we would still be sitting in schools studying to complete our degrees and schools, which were destroyed during the war, in a way in which there is no returning to complete studying. We can’t return to our homes that are located in the middle of a besieged, dangerous neighborhood for months. Our plants and gardens were also burnt due to the fires that took place near them. Our futures have all come to this moment and stopped.

We are far from our homes, our schooling and education have ceased and have been destroyed, and everyone’s lives are threatened. All of these were several reasons for our departure from Gaza, for our survival and to have a place to return to that is safe, and to continue our path of education and studies outside of Gaza and to start from scratch in a new country after losing our jobs and properties here.

I am an artist, and I have participated in several art exhibitions. I have made several paintings, whether it is with pencil, ink, or digital art. I always like to use the future or the past in my pieces of work, or in many cases, a mix between the two, with Palestinian touches from the Palestinian reality, so I will share with you some of my works and sketches that I made

The costs

Before the war, travel to Egypt used to cost $500 per person.

Now, they cost between $5,000 to $8,000 per person above the age of 16, and $2,500 for children under the age of 16. The rest of the costs are for our basic necessities for living, such as clothes, it’s only being allowed to travel with one backpack per person. It also includes travel tickets to the country in which we will start our new lives from scratch and find a new way to support ourselves.

I know that the amount we are asking for is a lot, but I will not lose hope that we can achieve this. This is our last thread of hope and chance at survival that we are holding on to and relying on, after God, by leaving Gaza and starting new lives in a new country.

If you are unable to help, I ask that you share this with everyone!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!