❤️Help a family with medical costs❤️

Hello, my name is Fiona O'Rourke a Professional Writer and Facilitator at the Irish Writers Centre and other literature organisations in Ireland.

Firstly we raised funds for Brick by Brick Let's Rebuild, as detailed in the original narrative below, in February 2025. Now, due to the extreme conditions that prevent rebuilding, we have re-focused to support the father of this family, and the medical costs to treat his life-threatening ❤️condition.

Many of the writing community signed up for the do the WRITE thing in person event in Dublin where we heard from two of the family members about their experiences in Gaza. Please help this campaign to support the family and join us if you can for the online writing session of do the WRITE thing.

Even if you can't attend, do consider donating to this worthy cause.

Attendance at the online event is by sign-up on this google form. Only those who have signed-up and donated will receive a zoom link for the event to their email address.

Thank you for taking the time to read this story and see you on screen at do the WRITE thing on Sunday, 22 June, 1 - 3 pm Irish Time, on zoom ♥️

February 2025

The #BrickByBrick fundraiser is to support four members of the Sabah Family in Gaza to rebuild their destroyed family home and provide a shelter for twenty-six members of their wider family. When rebuilt, they wish to share this home with six branches of their family tree who all remain homeless due to their homes being bombed.

The "after" photos provided were taken on 1 Feb 2025. The "before" photos are from 2022. Thank you for taking the time to read on❤️

My friend Ms Sabah from Gaza, who lives in Ireland, has not seen her mum, dad, sisters, and her brother since late 2022. Recent family news came that they'd returned to their city in Gaza to find the remains of their beloved homeplace in ruins. Every wall, floor, ceiling, and entire roof has been destroyed by Israeli bombing, as well as the destruction of the family’s belongings.

The family was expelled from their home place for over a year because of the Israeli occupation. They sheltered in a tent in the Almawasi area–a desolate place to the south of the Gaza Strip, always with the hope of one day returning to the house they had built.

During their expulsion, they received news of other family members whose homes had been destroyed, leaving six branches of the family tree homeless. Their hopes became urgent, that they could one day return and rebuild, to gather the relatives and in-laws who survived the genocide, and shelter together.

The Sabah home was originally built after my friend’s father invested post-retirement savings from his UNRWA teaching post. UNRWA permits employees to access their retirement savings while actively working and he invested all of his funds, plus funds that he borrowed from banks, to provide a home for his immediate family.

Like many Palestinians, the Sabah family is determined to clear the debris in their ruined residence and rebuild a new home, not only for themselves but also for the other family members and in-laws who were made homeless by the occupation’s destruction of their houses. It will become a home for three surviving generations of the Sabah family, grandparents, aunties, uncles, in-laws, and children.

This rebuild will secure a roof over the heads of 11 children, 7 women, and 8 men. A long and challenging project, yes, but already four members of the family have made one room for living in. By covering the obliterated walls with a temporary material, they can sleep indoors. During a winter of bitter wind, rain, and cold, this is not ideal but for the Sabah family, it feels preferable to being forced to sleep in a tent far away from their rightful home.

Construction prices have sky-rocketed for the surviving citizens of Gaza. Internet providers cannot sustain a definite reliable service, so even researching costs or ordering materials online is a daily challenge. Electricity being cut in the region poses another challenge, but the family are determined to re-establish their place in the community.

Each donation to this Brick by Brick fundraiser will support rebuilding costs and help the family find tradespeople for the work that they cannot manage themselves.

Some construction supplies have arrived in Gaza, and if the family can buy those, the next stage will be repairing holes in the walls as well as rebuilding brick by brick the walls that were wiped out.

With Trump’s threats to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land, it has become even more vital to rebuild and ensure the family’s future. My friend’s father and family wish to stay no matter what Trump says; to have a home to return to, and for one family member in particular who needs medical treatment from trusted medical professionals, this is the only place for them to be.

If the family has nowhere to live, the alternative is to leave Gaza. The Sabah Family knows that to leave Gaza is to never return. To leave Gaza with no home to return to is to leave for life.

Please support the six branches of the Sabah family to build a home in a place where their hearts belong. Let's help them rebuild Brick by Brick, and please donate as little or as much as you can.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the Sabah family, and please share this fundraiser with your family and friends❤️