My name is Akram Ward, I am 34 years old from Gaza. My wife Mai is 28, and our daughter Mila is just 4 years old. We are a simple family, dreaming of an ordinary life—working, building a safe home, and giving our daughter a childhood filled with love, laughter, and play.

Just a few days before the war began, we moved into our new apartment after years of hard work and saving. We spent around $50,000 on a fully furnished home, hoping it would be a safe haven for our little family. But all our dreams were reduced to ashes in just two days. The apartment was completely destroyed. Everything we had worked for—our savings, our furniture, Mila’s toys—vanished in an instant.

We fled the ruins of our home with nothing—no proper clothes, no food, no visible hope. Mila didn’t understand what happened; she cried, searching for the world that had been taken from her. Every toy she had represented safety, every piece of clothing warmth, and every corner of our home a piece of her childhood, now gone.

The first month after displacement, we stayed in overcrowded refugee camps in central Gaza. Hunger became our daily companion, clean water was scarce, and the cold was relentless. Even our little Mila often had only one meal a day. Later, we were forced to move south, joining our extended family of 17 into the hundreds of thousands displaced by the war.

Every day we live in fear, hearing the sounds of bombing around us, suffering from the lack of life’s most basic necessities: food, water, medicine for Mila, and even the chance to live a normal day. Yet, we have not lost hope. We do not ask to leave our land. We only ask for the chance to live with dignity, to protect our daughter, and to secure her future, even if life is modest and simple.

Mila is a small child who has known nothing but war and hardship, yet she loves to play, sing, and smile. Every day, we try to give her love and safety, to restore a little of the childhood she has been denied, and to give her a chance to grow up with peace, even for a little while.

Today, we ask anyone with a kind heart to help us:

Provide food and water for our daughter and family

Secure safe and simple shelter to protect our lives

Cover Mila’s daily essentials so she can live even a small portion of a normal childhood

Every contribution, no matter how small, brings a new chance at life for Mila. Every donation is a moment of joy and a smile for a child who has lost everything. Every act of kindness proves that humanity still exists and that love and dignity are possible even in the hardest circumstances.

We do not ask for much—only a chance to live. A simple life, with dignity, warmth, and safety for our daughter. Help us protect her, protect our lives, and reclaim a fragment of our dignity in Gaza despite the devastation and pain surrounding us.

For our daughter Mila, for every mother and father, for every compassionate heart—please help us today.