Help Samir and His Family Rebuild Their Life In Gaza

Hi, my name is Rebecca Kleba, I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin U.S.A, and the purpose of this GoFundMe is to help my friend Samir Salama and his family try and sustain a life in an area already rife with instability in Rafah, Palestine. It is currently impossible for them to evacuate to Egypt, and incredibly difficult to come by daily conveniences.

Please help Samir and his family survive; your support matters❤️

Samir is a civilian, and teacher with Amideast® , a leading American nonprofit organization engaged in international education, training, and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa. In the past 5+ months, many of Samir's students and friends, have died because of the continuous attacks.

It is also important to note, that Samir is one of the very first Palestinian teachers to start work with the award-winning charity Hands Up Project, which connects Palestinian children via live video link with volunteer teachers and school children all over the world, from Vietnam to Spain to Brazil - to collaborate to create remote theatre and improve English language.

"Greetings from Gaza, the city of love, hope and inspiration.

Sadly, it has become the city of death, ghosts and desperation.

I am Samir, an English language teacher, or as I used to be. I live in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. I am a Hands Up Project volunteer, the kind of job that has added a real taste and meaning to my job as a teacher. I have been involved in the HUP activities since 2016.

The HUP is a gate that connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. It enables the use of creativity and self-expression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. This fabulous job is all run through a great network of volunteers.

It is a real honour and pleasure to mention that the HUP had a great impact on helping my little children learn English. Nick Bilbrough, the founder and artisitc coordinator of the HUP has met my own little children in person when they were very young and I was really surprised to see them use English with him smoothly. Moreover, they have always loved to talk to him over Zoom".

"This is a clip of Nick, the HUP founder, and I doing the translation game; It was really helpful and interesting for my students to interactively and smoothly use English in such a game" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCUkTyioPY

"I used to be a teacher

I used to teach English

I used to give conversation classes

I used to walk around, chill out and catch up with friends

I used to go to the beach

I used to smile, laugh and have fun

I used to, but not any longer...."

By helping Samir, his wife, and their three children make the move to Egypt (the money would be used to provide for Samir and his family in terms of food, shelter, clothing, and transportation), not only can we be assured that Samir will resume his passion for teaching, but also Samir and his family have a chance at LIFE without famine, illness, death, and homelessness. As Samir told me the other day, "....we are dying, slowly..."..

"My three little children in addition to my wife and I are living in Rafah which is currently hosting 1.4 million displaced Gazans. We cling to life on Rafah, a town likely to be the next focus in the war.Rafah is already a death zone, so what will it be like if it is invaded!

You can imagine that yourself, but it would be too late for my three little children to picture the scene with you! It has been 157 days since war started. No single day passes without experiencing all the kinds of panic, terror and loss".

Please help me, so we can give this family some hope for a future❤️

Once funds are raised, I will personally make the transfer to Samir, who has asked to share the following message with you all:

"The idea of considering a fundraiser had never hit me before, and I always asked myself whether it is right for me set it up or not. However, life here has reached breaking point.

The genocide continues and we can no longer cope with the insecurity, anxiety and apprehension which we encounter on daily basis.

All I am seeking is just getting my family to safety. It really kills me seeing my own little children scared to death. Plus, it is appalling to know that all they think about is how they will escape death if it happens!

Watching your own children wake up at night with eyes open wide, anxious, paralyzed and terrified because of a sudden bombing is a real nightmare you would never ever consider even thinking of. With no place "forget about safety" to shelter at, all I can do is just hug them and wait our turn!

Your words before your donations will give my children a glimmer of hope and another glimmer of smile.

Much love,

Samir"