Help Nima and Her Family Return Home

UPDATE 6/18/2025: Nima and her family have been allowed to stay in the refugee camp for a few more months, paying rent on their tent until winter. While this gives us some more time, the need is still urgent. Please continue supporting to help the family avoid the heat at the peak of summer and move into a safe home before the extended deadline.

UPDATE: Nima has shared with me that she and her family will be required to move out of the refugee camp by June, whether or not their home is rebuilt. Everything back in Nima's village is complete demolished. This is our goal then--to raise $5,000 more by June so they can make their home safe and livable or buy a new home near their village. Nima told me that many people are selling their homes in this area at low prices now as they move back to their hometowns.

**This fundraiser is now to help Nima and her family rebuild their old home**

UPDATE: As many of you have probably heard, Syria is experiencing a liberation in which Assad has been driven out of power. As a result, Nima and her family are at last able to return to their home village. Sadly, their home was destroyed during the war and is barely standing. The new goal of this fundraiser is now to help Nima repair her old home so that it's liveable.

The winter weather also complicates the situation. A house without a roof is a more difficult place to live in the winter than a tent, so we have a greater sense of urgency now. The weather has been bitterly cold. Beyond this, Mohammed recently had to have an operation, but thanks to God, he's recovering well.

There is also a sense of trepidation in our joy, as we're not sure what these changes will bring for Syria as a whole. But Nima and her family are happy today and focusing just on what's in front of them: Going home, rebuilding their lives, and trying to return to a sense of normalcy.

We appreciate all your support so far and thank you for any support you continue to provide.

~~~~~~~~~~~

My name is Jessica Nettle Pollard, and I am fundraising for my friend Nima Mahdi Shehadeh in Syria. Nima is a mom with three kids. She is a devout Muslim. They are refugees in the Azaz Refugee Camp in Northern Syria. She has two girls, Fatima (age 10) and Zainab (age 5); and one little boy, Muhammad (age 3). Nima's husband Moaz, though kind and loving, has been chronically ill for 7 years and has been unable to support the family. Nima is the sole breadwinner in a situation where there are few opportunities for men, and even fewer for women.

[Muhammad (3), Fatima (10), and Zainab (5) in the tent]

Syria has been wracked by a civil war for over 10 years, and that is how long Nima and her family have been suffering. She is just one of over 13 million displaced people in Syria. "I am tired," she told me, "I am trying to give my kids a normal childhood." Nima and her children have been living in a tent with a concrete floor and metal support bars. The tent does little to keep out the weather: cold wind comes right through the canvas, and the tent heats up like a greenhouse in hot weather. When it floods, the water comes inside easily. When I've talked with Nima over video chat, I sometimes can see her breath in the air because of how cold it is. The primary goal of this fundraiser is for Nima and her children to move out of their tent and into a house, where they can be more comfortable and sheltered from the weather. A house there can cost as little as $1,500.

Clean water, food, and other basic necessities are difficult to come by in the refugee camp. Foreign aid is only available occasionally, and there is little to go around. Any money we raise here above the amount for the house will go towards life essentials for Nima and her kids.

To support her children, Nima has needed to be hardworking and resourceful. One of the things she has done, in an attempt to gather a little income in the jobless refugee camp, is start a TikTok Livestream. On TikTok Live, viewers are able to send creators virtual gifts that can then be converted into money. For example, a virtual Rose converts to about one penny. A cup of Turkish Coffee is about five cents, and a Swan is about 11 dollars. As you can imagine, it is extremely difficult for Nima to make more than a few dollars per livestream, even if it is a relatively successful one. Yet she is up day and night, whenever she has Internet availability and time, trying to make that income. Often, she gets up at 1 AM and 4 AM in Syria, and she is barely able to keep her eyes open. Sometimes, her daughter Fatima joins in, watching curiously. TikTok Live also has a function where livestreamers can talk to one another and get into contests for who can get the most gifts in a short amount of time. This sometimes helps increase income for Nima, and she has also made a few friends this way. Even though it is stressful as a very low-income job, it can also be fun at times.

[Nima and Fatima on a TikTok Live contest with someone doing Arabic calligraphy. They made about 30 cents in this contest.]

Although I have tried to support Nima's livestreams as much as I can, I soon realized that it is not the most effective way to help her. Of the money viewers spend on gifts, TikTok takes about 70% of that, and only about 30% makes it through to Nima. I noticed several viewers asking if there was any better way they could help. That is why I decided to start this GoFundMe for her. Further, Nima cannot speak English and is unable to run a GoFundMe herself. All donations will be sent directly to Nima through PayPal, which I have personally used successfully to send her personal assistance.

[Fatima]

Thank you to everyone who has come to read this fundraiser, share, donate, or anything else you've done to support Nima and her children. Nima says to you, "May God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you, may God give you a thousand blessings. May God protect you."

[Zainab, Muhammad, Nima]