Help in Safely Evacuating My Family from the War in Gaza

Nasser Barakat is organizing this fundraiser.

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This fundraiser is set to save the lives of my family (28 members including 13 children) and evacuate from the conflict and genocide happening in Gaza right now.

My name is Nasser Barakat, a Palestinian-Canadian living in Toronto. My family in Gaza is currently trapped in a war zone, one that we never thought we’d witness or experience. It has claimed the lives of loved ones, destroyed the homes and livelihoods of the rest and is continuing to threaten the lives of the surviving families.

I am trying to make arrangements for my family, which consists of my mom and dad, my two brothers with their families, my three sisters with their families and my three aunts, but need support to evacuate them from Gaza to Egypt through the only available border crossing, at Rafah.. Unfortunately, the cost of evacuating each person has been escalating, and currently it ranges from $5000 USD - $7000 USD per person, which has placed an overwhelming burden on all of us.

Caption: My niece and nephew, Dania and Yehia, at a destroyed park they used to play at. Dania loves to do makeup. I brought her a bunch from Canada on my last trip to Gaza in 2023. Yehia is 4 years old, and had just joined his kindergarten before the war.

Caption: Mohammed, Basman and Aseel, my sister Ghadeer kids in happier times in their home in Gaza City. Mohammed (right), loves playing video games and even has his own YouTube channel, Basman (left), loves drawing animation and has even made it a business: selling his drawings to other kids for $1 each.

Caption: One year-old Mohammed is the second youngest in the family, my sister’s Hadil son.

We used to live in Al Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, in the North of Gaza Strip, which was the first place bombarded and destroyed, forcing my family and their friends and neighbours to evacuate their houses and leave everything behind. Since then they have been displaced more than 11 times, running from a place to another, and currently are taking shelter where they can, scattered in different areas in the north and the south of Gaza Strip.

Caption: My sister Abeer’s house and cars were destroyed at the beginning of the war after the building in front of her family’s house was bombed.

All of our family houses have been affected and destroyed, as they were located near Al-Shifa hospital and Al Quds Hospitals in Gaza, which were part of the largest military operation during the war.

My family has nothing left but me to help them. I have been assisting them financially over the past five months, but now they desperately need assistance to cover the cost of leaving Gaza to Egypt and the cost of crossing is outside my means as a working professional though I have been taking on additional work wherever I can. Please Read this article for The Guardian to understand the current circumstances.

Canada announced a temporary protection program to evacuate immediate Gazan family members of Canadians on January 9th, one that I have submitted applications to for the 28 members of my family desperately in need of safety, yet they just announced that the program is failing, and they are unable to evacuate anyone.

For me and my family, this program felt like the best chance for them to survive and leave Gaza, yet now we have to go through the only other alternative, and last resort, which is by paying the fees.

My family is currently under constant psychological pressure, fear, confusion, and waiting in difficult living and health conditions. Access to appropriate food has become everyone's dream, especially for my sister-in-law Asmaa, who is breastfeeding my newborn nephew Qusay,*, who was born in displacement in the second month of this war.

In this fundraising campaign, I am hoping to raise $154,000 CAD (~$113,000 USD) for my family's cost of leaving Gaza, here is the breakdown of the funds needed:

- Crossing Permit for adults ($ 5,000 USD per person): 15 x 7,000 CAD= $105,000 CAD

- Crossing Permit for children ($2,500 USD per kid): 13 x $3400 CAD= $ 44,200 CAD

- A total of $4,327 CAD will be used to cover GoFundMe transaction fees (2.9% plus $0.30 per donation)

Total: 154,000 CAD

Your support can change the course of their lives. I have experienced war myself more than three times in Gaza and still suffer from its traumas. I fear for my family not only from losing their lives but also from losing their minds from the traumas of all these successive wars, violence and now the associated displacement, hunger and risk of poverty.

READ : an essay by my sister Abeer for TIME: ‘We’ve Been Fasting Since October.’ The Horror of Ramadan in Gaza

My sister Abeer, academian and researcher at a university, was pursuing her PhD degree in English when the war began. She speaks English and Spanish, and has been working at building partnerships with universities in Spain and Italy in the last year. During the war she lost her three cats while running from one place to another. Once I called her and she was crying, she said she can’t believe that she is a professor at her university and now she is running around looking for food. Her husband is a financial arbitrator and obtained his Master’s degree from the UK. They have four children. The eldest twin Rana and Montaser, have just started going to college a month before the war started. Nirmeen, was a karate champion in Malaysia and in Gaza, and the youngest Rania who loves reading.

My brother Tarek, a financial manager, has recently obtained his Master’s degree, his wife Alaa is an English teacher and they have three kids. Tarek used to raise four peacocks and after he and his family were displaced he’s kept trying to know about their fate.

My sister Ghadeer is a social worker, and is the comedian of the family. Her husband Bassam is a financial manager in the supreme court. They have three kids.

My brother Ahmed is an IT Specialist and his wife Asmaa a nutritionist. They have two kids, one was born during the war.

And the youngest of us is my sister Hadil who was pursuing her higher degrees before her priority became the mere survival of our family. Her husband is an IT developer. They have one kid.

Your help would mean the world to all of us. The beauty of crowdfunding is that if everyone can just give a little bit, we can meet this goal. My family are hardworking, humble people who have never had to ask for this kind of help, nor have I.

In fact, I’m proud to come from a family that has always been there to help others when they need it. That’s how we were raised, to care for one another- friends, family and even strangers.

I’m heartbroken that it is our turn to be the ones in need.

Thank you for any contribution you can make.

With gratitude and solidarity,

Nasser