Support Waseem's Rebuild Their Home or Journey to Safety

Hi, my name is Reyad Mahmoud, I live in Aurora, Colorado.

I'm fundraising for my nephew Waseem Hamouda who's currently living in Gaza.

On February 1st, 2023, Waseem and Sameera were happily wed as husband and wife. A few months after being married, Sameera discovered she was pregnant with a little girl, and they were thrilled with the idea of growing their family. Waseem was the owner of a small toiletry shop and worked tirelessly to ensure his growing family had everything they needed. Their home was filled with warmth and comfort, ready to welcome their future child.

On October 7th, while Waseem prepared himself to head to work as normal, the events that unfolded forced him and Sameera (8 months pregnant) to evacuate their home to seek safety. Due to the constant threats around them, they were forced to relocate cities multiple times, traveling from Gaza City to Khan Yunis to Rafah to their final destination, where they now reside in a tent

Baby Maysa was born two months after their initial evacuation - one of the many Palestinian children who were born as a refugee, with nowhere to call home. Due to the lack of resources, including food, her parents struggled to feed her and meet other basic needs required to help her to grow properly.

Waseem lost his shop during the bombing and now has no way to support his family. They also recently learned the home they evacuated was partly destroyed by bombing, vandalized, and robbed. The bombing led to extreme damage to some walls, with many cracks in others. The entire home is uninhabitable due to the poisonous chemical smoke surrounding it. The furniture was destroyed. Due to the smoke surrounding the home, attempting to dig through the rubble for items that can be salvaged is currently impossible.

The money raised through this fundraiser will be used to rebuild their home, so baby Maysa has a place she can actually call home and can begin to live as every child should. However, under the current circumstances they may have no choice but to use the funds to pay for evacuation to Egypt, where it is safer at this time with hope of rebuilding in the near future.