Help Selina's Family From Gaza Rebuild

Hi,

My name is Selina Al-Shihabi, and I am a Georgetown Student and Students for Justice in Palestine Organizer. I want to help spread my family in Gaza's story and help them raise funds, because they have lost everything, their homes, property, and family members. I have two Uncles, an aunt whom recently passed away, and six cousins who have lost everything in Gaza, including their mother and grandmother. While I can never give my young cousins their childhood back, what I can do is raise money to provide them with an education and a safe place to stay. Even if you can not donate much, anything means a lot. Please share this story. I wish I had all the money in the world so I could donate, but I need your help. Read my cousin's story below.

Below is my 13 Year old cousins story of life in Gaza:

We were sitting at home and then all of the sudden the whole house fell on us. And we couldn’t see and we couldn’t hear and we couldn’t even breathe at one point. Gradually, we saw a glimpse of light and we could see a little bit. We started calling “Mom!” “Dad!” Then my uncle, Wajih, his head was all bloody, he helped us out. He pulled me, my cousin yousef, yazan, my aunt basma, and my three sisters, dania tala and fadwa out of the rubble. Then he went looking for my mom and my dad. He found my dad and he helped him out.

So after we were pulled out of the rubble, my uncle still couldn’t find my mom. We heard my dad calling from the lower level, so my uncle Wajih started throwing us down to the lower level for my dad to catch us. We still couldn’t find my mom. The ambulance arrived and we all got in the ambulance except my dad, who stayed behind to look for my mom. More people came to help my dad look for my mom. They finally found her, dead under the rubble.

We then went to our family’s farm and stayed there for two days. We were told to evacuate to the south. We went to Deir El Balah. Deir El Balah helped us a lot. We found a lot of emotional support. We were so busy all the time trying to fetch water and trying to get food and trying to turn on the fire and we were always surrounded by family as we all had to evacuate to the south. After that we were told to evacuate to Al Muwasi. Al Muwasi wasn’t as fun, we were always scared and worried and unsafe. We also felt emotionally down.

My Uncle Wajih without us knowing was trying to exit us from Gaza. He told my grandma that we are leaving tomorrow. We were so excited to leave that we stayed up all night. The next day we left to Egypt.

As we arrived to Egypt, we were very sad because my mom wasn’t with us. My grandma was there and took good care of us and tried to fill that emptiness. Two months later, my grandma unexpectedly passed away.

This we were in shock. Teta passed away and we only have my dad, uncle Wajih, and aunt basma left. Al Hamdillah they were able to support us mentally and emotionally. We were able to overcome our sadness much much more and we thank them a lot for all their help and support. We are now in Egypt trying to make a new life there but it is not easy.

Please share this story.