Hello world! ✨

This is Bashar Shady Qudaih and his beautiful family. They are currently living day to day, working to survive. In the face of wartime, they have lost their home and are living in shacks in an active war zone in southern Gaza. They are in true need of humanitarian aid. We can help as a community of humans who believe in the power of unity, freedom, human rights, and progress.

My name is Caitlyn Margaret Carroll, I am from Calhoun Ga, USA, and Bashar and I met via Instagram this year. His family and I have been video chatting via phone (when they can receive service). It has been a gift to learn more about his family and their precious existence, to understand what they are going through, and how we can contribute to their safety, health, survival, liberation, and prosperity. Because we know that as a human race, we are stronger together, and that every being deserves the chance to have a good life. Bashar and his family have not had that opportunity yet because the oppressive Israeli forces (that stand apart from the peaceful Jewish belief) have been occupying and overstepping on the Palestinian people’s human rights for over 18 years now. It is time for us to act and help our fellow brother, sister, and human being. Blessed be.

Bashar, the oldest son, has written about his beautiful family to help us get to know them better. Below is his letter:

Hello! My name is Bashar Shady Qudaih. I am 19 years old, and my family consists of 9 people:

My brothers Baraa (7 yrs), Bassam (8 yrs), Bahaa (18 yrs), my sister Bisan (15 yrs), my father Shadi (40 yrs), my mother Rasha (40 yrs), my grandmother Maryam (83 yrs), my grandfather Sobhi (75 yrs), and me. I want to talk to you about our suffering from the beginning of the war until today. We spent the first week in Gaza City, and during that short period, we were exposed to many threats of displacement due to the bombing that occurred near us. On October 13th, we were deployed to southern Gaza, specifically to the Khan Younis area. We stayed in a place affiliated with the Relief Agency for 3 months. We slept in a place 3 meters by 3 meters on a mat on the ground. There were no mattresses or headrests. Barely enough resources to go around, and no room, because so many people are displaced from their destroyed homes now. We suffered from the lack of drinking water, the contamination of the place, the crowding and pushing to use the toilet, having to wait hours before we could use it at any given time.

All I want is to save my family from this war.

His family is currently located in Khan Younis (southern Gaza).

We do not know what the future holds, but we have faith that God is watching over my family, and that humanitarian aid will come, that we will be free, safe, and in good health soon, with our homes and faith in a good life restored.

With the Rafah closing since last May, reduced food supplies entering and actually being allowed to Gaza, and rising prices, Gazan families face real challenges in obtaining food, water, and medical assistance daily, if necessary. For many of us left, right now, it is a day-to-day struggle to survive. The bombings are still happening all around us. When we try to travel to carry food back for our families, unfortunately, sometimes we are attacked/bombed/shot by Israeli forces. My brother was shot in the leg recently, and my younger brother has a face injury from the most recent attack. My father was beaten badly and is healing from a severe head injury, and we need medical assistance and donations to pay for his surgery.

Please consider supporting my family.

May God bless you, you good people. Thank you for giving us a chance to rebuild our lives.

The raised funds will be transferred to a PayPal account of the family and used as follows:

-$11,000 to cover their living and medical expenses, such as food, water, shelter, clothes, medicine and treatment/surgery, soap to stay clean, and tools to cook food with.

-A transaction fee of 17% is deducted automatically from each donation. This adds a minimum of $1,020 for GoFundMe’s processing fee.

It is our intention to fundraise as much as possible for the Palestinian and Gazan people as a whole to help them to survive this war and get to safety and wellbeing.

Y’all, from $10-$100… any amount is going to help them buy food, water, and resources to stay alive until allies can reach them and help safely evacuate everyone.

More ways you can help:

1. Sharing their story (by social media/text/email/online AND by word of mouth) with your network/community can significantly widen the circle of help.

2. Find and join protests in your area, stand together and speak loud for human rights.

3. Contact me! (Cait) [phone redacted] & [email redacted]

We are stronger together!

4. Continue to share all Palestinian posts that aid in their gaining focus on their situation and active support.