help Gaza student get to education in America

Hello, my name is Sama, which is Arabic for “sky”. I am 19 years old. I have become the lead person for my family of six. Last September I entered my second year of university studies here in Gaza, majoring in Business Management and Economics. My school, like most others here, was abruptly shut down and is now lying in rubble. Enter a family from North Carolina, the Spaders, who have reached out to many students facing major circumstantial challenges. They offered to help me get into a school in their area to continue my studies. Working on that process, how to get there, it became increasingly clear that the conflict here in Gaza was becoming an issue of basic survival, requiring full attention. Jammed together in Rafah in makeshift dwellings with a million other refugees, my family is now focused on one thing, to get to Egypt and safety. That is why I am appealing to you, for funding assistance for my family to safely relocate. To escape from what has already taken so many others, death.

I and my siblings grew up feeling secure, a happy and loving family. We lived in an area where we had many good friends. We were taught by our parents to be dutiful, to live not just for ourselves but also for others. My father headed up a relief agency, demonstrating to us the importance of charity. He provided reliably for his family despite a heart condition that required stents and a pacemaker. Up until October of this past year we all were looking forward to a bright future, one of promise. We and few others foresaw the devastation of our lives. Our town, community, apartment building, businesses and schools have been systematically destroyed. We were, thank God, among the fortunate ones who were physically unscathed. Medical services have almost totally disappeared. We gathered together what we could put into backpacks and fled to the south in hopes of safety. Gradually our lives got reduced to a daily challenge to secure safe food and water and gather firewood for cooking. Our shelters haven’t even blocked out the harsh winter winds.

Today, at nineteen, I try to be the family leader, while fighting back doubts and traces of negativity. When I allow myself to cry, I do so in private. For many weeks we have been running, seeking safety amidst bombings, struggling to survive. That includes looming threats of starvation and disease. Every day is a constant mix of emotions, emotions like feeling scared, anxious, even helpless. I don't know if the mental and physical trauma being endured is something that can ever fully heal. I was born to a man of honor and a woman of purity and seeing them both collapsing right in front of my eyes is tormenting. Seeing the focus of my siblings switch from education to collecting firewood and carrying buckets of water wherever it can be found is heartbreaking. Most of all, I want us to feel safe, and at this point that is only possible if we can cross over to Egypt and make our way to relatives living in Cairo.

It is hurting for a proud family like ours to beg for funds, but there is no choice, and we do so with endless gratitude to those who care. I know that many in our world struggle to make ends meet, so our appeal is for something truly out of our reach, but something that could be the difference between life or death. There is only one border checkpoint, where movement is highly restricted. To get onto a waitlist to cross the border into Egypt thousands of dollars of "fees" per person have to be paid. Add to this expenses for various paperwork like visas and permits to remain in Egypt. For our family this comes to around $25K, after donations from relatives and friends are deducted. It is an amount of money few in our part of the world could ever have saved.

To the priority that fell totally into the background, the interrupted studies, I feel confident my siblings will be welcomed to new schools in Cairo. If we get there. While this painful drama has been playing out, the Spaders continued their offered role, supporting the processing of my application for admission to a college in Raleigh, North Carolina. Once my family is safe and settled, that will be the next chapter in my life. To be clear that is not within the scope of this request. The Spaders have given assurances they will completely fund the resumption of my education. For now my total focus is securing the funding that will allow us passage out of our dear devastated and increasingly deadly Gaza. Hopefully 2025 will, with God’s grace, bring a return to a positive direction in our lives. In my faith generosity is considered one of the highest of all virtues. I hope that my life will offer at future times opportunities for me to be the one reaching out to help others in such moments of need. I truly believe that such acts of support are rewarded with blessings. In that sense I and my family wish you all the greatest of blessings for opening your hearts. Thank you ever so much!

Sadly this has become routine, going out to survey damage after an overnight bombing near to where we were sheltering. Please help us!

God bless you.

update, from Sama's journal, April 26th, 2024

"The death you know is the least painful, and the most peaceful. It merely transitions one's soul to the afterlife. In Gaza, we learn other forms of death — more excruciating, diabolical, and tormenting. We learn that, sometimes, living is synonymous to death, and that death is the way out of this".

Sama’s Memo of War

How does one respond to daily threats of death or injury, in a war zone? In some special people it brings out a genuine sense of caring. Sama found opportunities to distribute incoming food aid, despite the danger it put her in.

Finally, a call came late in the night, a call that at first seemed just a dream, a notification that if they could get to the border checkpoint at Rafah, the whole family would be processed for passage to Egypt. Quickly backpacks were filled and by the end of the day the miracle happened.