Help family in Gaza

Help family in Gaza

Hello, I’m Ward Shwaikh. I grew up in the West Bank/Jerusalem and I’m making this fundraiser for my family in Gaza. I can write essays about our personal situation but I would rather you heard from them personally. Thank you. Below is their story in their own words:

My name is Awni Shwaikh. Together with my wife, Eman, we are parents of triplets (Leen, Lian & Kareem- 18 years old), and two daughters (Rama 15) and Sarah (7). We used to live in Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza city, before October 7th, 2023. We were lucky to survive the huge bombing of the mosque close to our home. A few days later, like many families in Shati, the Israeli army ordered us to evacuate our homes. My mother and brother and his family fled with us, and we are in Rafah. My son Kareem has type 1 diabetes, and getting insulin for him is a difficult struggle.

I run a voluntary association, the Haifa Association, which helps children with diabetes. Israeli soldiers took over the association building, and after they left, we found racist graffiti they wrote while there.

In Rafah, we live about 35 people in an apartment in a building which hosts about 150 people. And we feel lucky compared to other people who live in humanitarian shelters in schools or tents.

As many other Palestinians, we don’t see a light or hope now. Even if war and killing stopped, Gaza almost has no place to live in. We really don’t know what happened to our house in Shati, and there are no schools and no universities – so I worry about even after the war stops. My triplets want to continue their education abroad (they started to study at ---university in Gaza on September 2023). We want to keep all the family together with my mother and sister. We hope to that people will consider donating for our evacuation via Rafah, which costs about $5,000 US per person. I’m retired now and Eman has no job, so we’re asking for your help. Thank you.