Emergency Aid for Rola’s Children in Gaza

Hi, I’m Kirti Soekaloe from the Netherlands. I’ve set up this fundraiser to represent Rola in Gaza, who needs monetary support for her family’s safety, health, and their right to be together again.

As someone who believes in the power of community and in standing by those whose voices are too often overlooked, I couldn’t sit back and hope someone else would step in when I was introduced to Rola Shaqqoura. This is about bringing one family out of the shadows, and if we don’t help, who will?

In Gaza, families like Rola’s are facing unimaginable conditions. Many of us hear the news, feel the agitation & activation, and (within our means) donate to organizations - hoping our contributions might, someday, reach someone in need…

But there are other ways—some of which bring change directly to the people who need it right now. For me, that means showing up for Rola Shaqqoura and her children, knowing that each of us can be part of creating real, immediate relief. For you, that could be supporting a local and peer-reviewed organisation or hopefully even supporting this fundraiser I’ve set up as a trusted companion of Rola.

Rola’s story is one of thousands, yet her voice and her children’s lives are irreplaceable. Her courage and the love she has for her family are universal—yet her reality is a nightmare. While we have the luxury to choose when and how we engage with the world’s suffering, Rola and her children don’t have that choice. Her husband, stuck in northern Gaza, struggles daily to find food; her two young children wonder if they’ll see their father again, and winter is approaching with a cold that brings life-threatening hardship.

Here’s Rola’s story, in her own words:

I am Rola, 29 years old, a mother of two children, Julia, 3 years old, and Akram, 2 years old. I live in the northern Gaza Strip. My husband stayed in the northern Gaza Strip against his will, fearing for his mother who insisted on staying in the north and not being displaced. However, he asked me to move with my family to the southern Gaza Strip to protect my children. So I went to the southern Gaza Strip alone, without my husband. I was very afraid that my children would be harmed, but I did not expect that the war would continue for this long!!! I have been away from my husband for a whole year, and he is away from his children. My children have grown up away from him. My son Akram's hand was broken and he underwent surgery while he was away from his father. I feel helpless when I see my daughter crying and saying I want (daddy) and I miss you so much, daddy. I have never imagined in my life that I would live all of this alone. There is a great famine in the northern Gaza Strip! My husband finds it very difficult to get food. He has been through very difficult circumstances. He has not eaten for several days. Everything is getting worse, the prices are very high, and winter is coming and the children need winter clothes, blankets, and everything they need to feel warm. I feel helpless because I am alone without my husband. I hope you can help me reunite with my husband and escape to a safe area, because there is no safe place in Gaza!! Every euro makes a big difference to us. Help me for my children

Supporting Rola and her children isn’t about charity; it’s about justice, solidarity, and refusing to let fear, distance, or doubt keep us from showing up. We can each make a choice here—to be part of the world that stands by Rola, her husband and her children in their most desperate moment.

I ask you to join me, not just to help meet their immediate needs but to show them that they are seen, valued, and supported. Together, we can make sure every euro, every gesture of support goes straight to a family whose resilience should inspire us all.

Within my international community of activists, educators, artists and changemakers I’ve got to get a close look at the fundraising efforts of Amwaj (FR) and was inspired and guided by them in my aspiration to set up a fundraiser for one of the women (Rula) who reached out for help. We stay in contact as much as we can, we video-call for check-ins and updates and we sustain each other’s morale. Within this fundraiser, I purely intend to function as the middleman in disseminating this information, collecting the funds and transferring it via a PayPal pathway to reach Rol in Gaza.