Hello, my name is Carly Berube and I am a nurse who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I am starting this fundraiser for my friend in Gaza, Leen Esleem and her family.
Leen Esleem is a 10-year-old girl who is living on a strip of land that is the most dangerous place in the world to exist as a child. She was displaced from her home in October 2023 and has been living in an overcrowded tent next to raw sewage, a makeshift shelter and now the rubble of her uncle‘s home during sweltering heat. She is now in north Gaza with her family. Her family consists of her grandmother, her father, mother, two sisters and two brothers. Leen loved school and dreams of the day where she can feel safe again and go back to school. All of the children of Gaza have missed now three years of school due to the ongoing genocide. Leen is often sick from the dirty, drinking water and sewage that is everywhere due to the complete collapse of all sanitation from the relentless bombing.
Anna Leen had a beautiful and quiet life, despite living on one of the most overpopulated pieces of land in the world. She comes from the Al Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. In Gaza, the Palestinian people did not have control over any aspects of their lives due to the occupation by Israel. Gaza has been under complete siege by land, air, and sea since 2005. Complete siege means that all of the borders are controlled by Israel and the majority of the inhabitants are not granted the ability to leave. When the war started, all entrances and exits from the Gaza Strip were immediately closed and very few people have been allowed out, civilians or not.
The bombing in Gaza has not stopped for since October of 2023, and the death and destruction has been affecting everyone. All homes, buildings, hospitals, schools, everything has been bombed. Over 90% of the infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed.
Can you imagine having a bomb dropped on your house while you sleep, and your uncle, aunt, and cousins all killed or trapped under the rubble? Can you imagine having to flee your home with nothing but the clothes on your back, with your children and narrowly escaping death? Can you imagine your family being split up in the scatter to leave? As you run with your mother and siblings, your father stays behind to care for his elderly mother. Leen was terrified and separated from her father for one year, but now they are back with him in the north. They are living in the rubble of her uncle’s home. There is no very little food in the markets, and what is there is very expensive. They must travel long distances for water and electricity to charge their phones.
To give you an idea of the suffering that's happening right now, the single closest bathroom is a far distance and shared by an average of 500 people, for one bathroom. Polio has been found in the water supply in Gaza and vaccines have been allowed in slowly for a fraction of the children. There are no available soaps or detergents , and medicine and healthcare is largely unavailable due to the complete collapse of the medical system. Diseases, viruses, sewage, trash, and rubble are all around. The sounds of bombs can be heard everywhere and the people just feel like they are waiting for their death, nowhere is safe in Gaza. If they were to be displaced again, there is nowhere to go, as every single space is taken.
Life has become unliveable in Gaza, so the Esleem family now hope to cross the border into Egypt. But, to evacuate from Gaza, Palestinians must bribe Egyptian officials to cross the border. Right now we are just collecting for their sirvival in a genocide.
Every single week, the ability and pathway to send money to Gaza changes and we must be as flexible as possible, but I guarantee that the money will get to her.
In the attempt to have full transparency and trust in the campaign, I am going to attempt to lay out exactly what the money will be spent on below.
I have been taking the lowest conservative estimate reported by the families for the prices that they have reported below. When the border was allowing crossings, the price for one person to get on a list to evacuate to Egypt was $5500 per person
(aged 16 years old and above), and $3000 (per child younger than 16 years old).
Although the price of food fluctuates due to how much gets across the border that day, I have taken the last reported amount for a family of her size per week. Gaza is the most expensive place on earth right now due to the very small trickle of humanitarian aid through the border. The aid that everybody needs to survive is being held by the Isreali government, backed by the US.
This is a humanitarian disaster that will be studied for decades.
WHAT THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT ON:
-Food $250 per week
-Border crossing money:
-$5500 per person 16 years old and above
5500 x 5 = $27,500
1. Hassan (father)
2. Manal (mother)
3. Esraa (21 years old)
4. Wafaa (19 years old)
5. Anaas (16 years old)
6. Leen (10 years old)
$3000 per person 16 years old and below
3000 x 2 = $6000
1. Saad (14 years old)
2. Anna Leen (10 years old)
The sounds of bombs can be heard where they are, but nowhere is safe in Gaza. If they were to be displaced again, there is nowhere to go, as every single space is taken. Money for living expenses such as rent and food when evacuated to Egypt for one month for a family of
7 people = $3000 (low estimate)
For incidentals, because the situation and cost of everything
is changing daily = $5000
Total = $42,500
The situation in Gaza is unimaginable for most of us living in the Western world. Imagine trying to beg strangers on the internet to donate money so that you can save your children during the most well-documented and brutal war that the world has ever seen.
We also understand how hard you work for your money, and any donation, even the price of a cup of coffee, is so greatly appreciated.
Thank you for standing in solidarity with this beautiful family. Please know that they are so grateful.
Sincerely,
Carly Jean Berube
USA
Organizer
Carly Berube
Organizer
Pittsburgh, PA