Help Me Rebuild a Life for My Three Children After We Lost Everything in Gaza

My name is Nour Abu Nada. I am a Palestinian mother from Gaza and the mother of three young children: Hossam, 9, Yousef, 8, and Alloush, 5.

I am writing to you today after a journey I never imagined my children and I would have to endure.

During the war in Gaza, I lost my husband, my home, and my work. My children lost their father and the life they once knew. In what felt like an instant, I became their mother, their father, and their only source of support and protection.

At the beginning of our displacement, six of us left northern Gaza together: my husband, our three children, my father-in-law, and me.

When we eventually returned to northern Gaza, there were only four of us: my three children and me.

My husband and his father were lost during our journey of displacement.

There are no words to describe what it means to grieve the person you love while trying to hide your fear, wipe your children’s tears, and find somewhere safe for them to sleep.

We were displaced approximately 16 times, moving again and again in search of safety. Every time we fled, I carried one thought with me: I had to keep my children alive.

There were moments when I feared I would lose them too. My children were pulled from beneath the rubble twice.

And somehow, after everything, I had to stand up again.

I did not have the luxury of falling apart. Three little children were looking at me and depending on me to become the safety they had lost.

For them, I endured things I never thought I could endure. I fought with everything I had to protect them and to find a way to give them another chance at life.

Previously, I created a fundraising campaign to help us escape Gaza. By the grace of God and through the generosity of people who stood beside us, I was finally able to leave Gaza with my three children and reach Egypt.

Leaving Gaza was the beginning of our survival, but it was not the end of our journey.

Today, we are in a new country, trying to rebuild our lives from nothing.

I have rented a home for my children and me, but I have no family here to support us and no stable job. I am solely responsible for Hossam, Yousef, and Alloush—their housing, food, everyday necessities, and, most importantly to me now, their education and their chance to return to school.

After everything they have witnessed, I want their biggest worries to become homework, exams, friendships, and games—not bombs, displacement, and rubble.

That is why I am starting this new campaign.

I am asking for your help to cover the rent for a safe home, food, our essential everyday living expenses, and the school fees and educational costs for my three children.

At the same time, I do not want to depend on donations forever. I hope your support during this stage can give me the stability and breathing room I need to rebuild my life. I plan to work toward starting my own small business in Egypt and creating a stable, sustainable source of income so that I can support my children independently.

I want this support to help me get back on my feet, not to become something my family must depend on forever.

I am not asking for a luxurious life. I am asking for the opportunity to rebuild my children’s lives, one step at a time.

Every contribution, no matter the amount, helps carry a small part of the responsibility that I now carry alone. And if you are unable to donate, sharing our campaign may help our story reach someone who can.

To everyone who supported our previous campaign, donated, shared our story, prayed for us, or stood beside us: thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Your support played a part in helping me bring my children out of Gaza and into greater safety.

Today, I am asking you to stand beside us for the next part of our journey: not simply to survive, but to begin living again.

I dream of seeing Hossam, Yousef, and Alloush safely going to school, coming home to a secure place, and growing up believing that they still have a future ahead of them.

Thank you for reading our story. Thank you for donating, sharing, and remembering my children.

With gratitude,

Nour Abu Nada — mother of Hossam, Yousef, and Alloush

Thank you for helping me give my children a new beginning.