Hello, my name is Ayaki (Instagram) and I have set up this campaign to raise urgent medical funds for my friend, Ahmed Zohdi (Instagram). Ahmed, a father of 3 children, is currently in Gaza with his family. He was seriously injured in his foot after being hit by shrapnel from a nearby bombing. He walks around with a crutch and experiences excruciating pain every day. Despite these difficulties, Ahmed has been doing his best to try and support his family, as a father, by posting on social media.

I have set the initial goal of this campaign as $5,000 just so that he can raise the immediate funds necessary for his immediate medical treatment and daily necessities (internet & food and water). I have already verified Ahmed's identity (photos & screenshots below).

If you are reading this campaign, I know that you may already be helping other families, and you may be at your limit, emotionally and financially. However, I ask that you do not become numb to the suffering of these families. Unfortunately, they cannot wait for the rest of the world because their situation is urgent.

I considered myself to be at my capacity before speaking with Ahmed, but after hearing his circumstances, I realized that there is no better use of my time or money right now than to help him. You would be surprised at how far $5 can go; please don't underestimate the impact that you can have in alleviating his suffering.

I have summarized his story below and I would really appreciate if you could take a moment to read it. Thank you so much for your support.

Ahmed's story

Before the war, Ahmed (49) had a house in Khan Yunis and lived there with his wife and three children:

Ahmed worked as a wall painter and created beautiful designs like the one below:

However, his house (shown in the campaign image) was completely destroyed. Since then, Ahmed and his family have been displaced multiple times.

After their house was bombed, they fled to Al-Mawasi and lived in a tent. However, they had to flee again because the bombing was so violent there. They were then displaced to Deir al-Balah. There is no stable place for them right now and their day to day is extremely difficult.

Ahmed has an Instagram account and has been trying to fundraise there, but it's been difficult for him to do so, not only because he is in a lot of pain and finds it hard to post frequently or create new content, but also because he faces other difficulties like limited phone storage (meaning he does not have a lot of photos) and internet connectivity issues.

We tried to have a video call multiple times, but kept missing each other due to the time zone. However, he took the below photos of his daughter with a sign that reads "Hello Ayaki" (my name) as a way to verify his identity. I'm sorry if the idea seems crude, but given the difficulties in connecting, we had to get creative, especially since I know his biggest hurdle right now is in proving that he is "real" online.

Below are some screenshots of my conversations with Ahmed:

Breakdown of Costs

The purpose of this fundraiser is to urgently raise funds for the following:

I will be transferring the funds to Ahmed via PayPal. I have set the initial goal as $5,000 so that he would have enough to cover his treatment as well as his daily necessities for at least 3 months (especially since there will very likely be other costs that come up, which we may have failed to account for). I may adjust the goal if it becomes necessary, especially once the Rafah crossing reopens and the families are able to evacuate.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to DM me on Instagram. I hope to do everything that I can to help Ahmed. Thank you for taking the time to read through this campaign, and for trying to help Ahmed and his family.