Hello Silent World,

I am Ahmad. On the 28th of September, I will turn 23 years old – my second year living through this war.

When I first created this campaign with summer, I had written that I was 21. Today, I have changed it to 23. Two entire years have passed.

I write these words to you from inside our tent, which feels like an oven – or even harsher – because of the unbearable heat. I speak to you from the heart of the most horrific genocide history has ever witnessed. I speak to you from Gaza – broken, orphaned, widowed, lost, and bereaved.

I can no longer remember how many times we have been displaced from our completely destroyed city, from my partially destroyed home, from our other home that was entirely destroyed. I cannot count the days and months I have been away from my town and my house, suffering displacement, sleeping in tents, sleeping in the streets. But it has been far, far too long – every second feels like a year, and every day feels like a thousand years.

am Ahmad. Suddenly, I found myself fully responsible for my entire family, for everything. I have carried this responsibility throughout this ongoing genocide, trying with everything I have to help us live and survive with dignity. Many times, we simply wish to feel full, but now we eat only to stay alive. There is never enough food to be satisfied – or rather, there is never enough money to buy enough food.

When I first launched this campaign, I had written that I was a university student at the Faculty of Information Technology, majoring in Multimedia and Web Development. I wrote about the huge challenges I faced in continuing my studies and graduating in my final year because of the genocide destroying my country, leaving behind no services at all.

Today, I share with you that I overcame every challenge. I carved my way through rocks and mountains. I graduated from university in the field I love – despite everything, despite the impossible. Despite having no electricity, no internet, no computer, I proved that hope can be born from the heart of crises.

I have started to repeat constantly: “I don’t know.” Because truly, I no longer know anything.

I don’t know if we will eat or not. I don’t know if we will drink or not. I don’t know if we will have clothes to wear or not. I don’t know if we will stay alive or not. And if we die, I don’t know if there will even be someone to bury us. I don’t know.

One of my wishes now is simply to be able to grieve fully, to mourn with all my heart for my friends, my grandmother, my aunts, and my cousins who I have lost during this war. And still, I keep losing more almost every day. But we do not have the luxury to mourn. We bury our loved ones in silence, and then return to search for flour – not to sit in mourning.

Sometimes I feel completely emptied of hope. I let go of all my dreams. I surrender to life and simply wait for either death… or death. Sometimes I try to find a little hope. Sometimes I know nothing – not even if we will survive.

Here, money has lost its value. There is so much money for so little food.

By the way, I am from Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis.

My family consists of 8 people: my mother and father, my eldest sister who is married and has 4 children, my older brother who studies medicine in Bangladesh, myself in the middle, my younger brother also studying medicine in Bangladesh (he left just one month before the war began), and my two younger sisters (17 and 15 years old).

Perhaps you can give me a little hope here, my dear friends.

Perhaps you can restore my faith in humanity once more.

Tell me that goodness still exists in this world. I do not want to feel that I am alone.

And please – do not forget us in Gaza. Not only by donating money, but also by speaking everywhere, by fighting for this injustice to end, and by praying for us.

I love you so, so, so much ❤️

Written on August 17, 2025 at 11:57 p.m., inside my tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

Hello,

My name is Summer Joos. I live in Salt Lake County, Utah. I met Ahmad after spontaneously adding him through snap maps back in February of 2024 and began this campaign for him not long after. The initial goal was to raise $10,000 per family member to evacuate them to Egypt. Now, it is to raise money so they have enough to buy food at exuberant prices. They simply need to eat. All funds will be transferred via binance.

From the river to the sea