Save Katia and her family in Gaza

Save Katia and her family in Gaza

My cousin Katia is from Bar Elias, a village in the Beqaa valley in Lebanon. In 2010 love took her to Gaza, soon after she met Khaled, a Palestinina man, online and got married to him. Since then she has been living in Hay Al Tuffah in the north of Gaza and has three children. Mariam (10 years old), Abdul fatal who suffers from autism (7 years old), and Louna (6 years old). Katia has been trying to leave Gaza long before the current war. Raising an autistic child in such an environment has been near impossible. The life difficulties due to the siege and the assaults from Israel, over the years, has left a traumatic scar on his mental health and it is just getting worse.

Katia and her family are currently trapped in their home in the north of Gaza, an area decimated by the IDF. At one point she fled her house as the IDF soldiers were shooting at her windows. She later returned but is currently trapped and unable to leave.

On 25th Dec 2023 she wrote to me:

omg Umama

they made us leave or house

we are now destitute

go ahead use our pictures

the bullets came into our house

and there is no food nor flour

we eat rice once a day

and sometimes i don't eat too keep it for my children

My communication with Katia was cut out for a while because of the loss of internet connection in the North of Gaza. But recently she has been back online, on and off... We communicated today and she sounded hopeful learning that people have been donating money for her family. She asked me to share this text in which she tells her own story:

"Hello, my name is Katia Araji, my family and I live in difficult and frightening situations due to the war in Gaza strip . I'm a mother for three kids. I have a child with autism spectrum disorder.

My children are living in hard psychological conditions, due to the sound of bombing and absence of education

As for my young child, his psychological condition is deteriorating because he is deprived of access to appropriate treatment for his condition

I am asking for help in collecting donations, to travel with my family out of gaza, to obtain security, food, and health care

Any money donated will be used to travel from gaza, so we can live in peace. Any amount you're willing to contribute is so greatly appreciated, and if you aren't able to contribute money at this time, a share with your friends and family would mean the world to us as well."

Your financial support is pivotal to providing katia and her family with the means to eat, live and find shelter. Katia also needs to escape. Their escape to Egypt is a difficult journey with considerable expenses. The situation on the ground is always changing. At the moment the Rafah crossing border is closed. But before this happened she said that it cost 5000 dollars for kids and 8000 dollars for adults to be evacuated to the Egyptian side of the border.

We are hoping that by the time we collect funds for her, the Rafah border will be open and she will be able to make it out with her family. We will be sending the money to someone she knows and trusts in Egypt who will help get the money to her.

We know that we are asking for a large amount of money. It will mostly be used to enable Katia and her family to pay for the horrific expenses to leave Gaza and reach for safety where she can raise her children away from the violence.

Much appreciated