URGENT APPEAL - HELP EVACUATE MY FAMILY FROM GAZA

UPDATE (Wednesday 21st July)

We have been displaced for the third time and reside in a part of Gaza that is still very unsafe with the threat of bombardment looming over our heads everyday. The cost of displacing and uprooting my life was extortionate and has costed me greatly mentally, physically and financially. I have very little money left. The GoFundMe has sustained me and my family, but we don’t have enough to evacuate as of yet. Unfortunately, my salon has also been destroyed - which has been very difficult for me to come to terms with. Every penny you have donated is helping to sustain me and I thank you for your ongoing support.

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My name is Mohammed (Instagram - @m.boji) and I am currently displaced from my home in Rafah to a tent in a completely different part of Gaza with my wife, Reham, and my two children - Thaer and Lynn.

Anyone that has a family knows that you would put yourself in front of a bullet to protect them. Prior to the war, we were a family that were the comfort of each other’s eyes and we loved life and enjoyed the beauty of Gaza. Unfortunately, this war has completely decimated the life we previously had. I am in a position where I can no longer shield my family from the horrors of war or comfort them with distractions. We have lost our home and all the comfort that resides in it to live in a tent with very little access to drinkable water, food, medication and other urgent necessities to sustain human life.

Prior to the war, I was a barber who enjoyed travelling, perfecting his craft and maintaining a barber shop which was the cornerstone of building societal bonds and maintaining camaraderie and joy in my local area. However, the war has meant that my source of income has been completely destroyed and I am left with no job, no financial support and it has severed the communal bonds that existed prior to the war.

Alongside my job, I have had to leave my home - a home I spent a lifetime trying to create a safe haven for my family. I was forced to forsake my comfort and familiarity to live in a tent made of nylon and polyester - which cannot protect myself or my children against the harsh sun, against diseases - or worse, against bombardment. I cannot be the father I want to be and ensure that my children never endure the cruelty of war, but unfortunately - their eyes witness the bombardments and their bodies tremble out of fear and anxiety. It’s hard to regulate children when you are struggling to regulate yourself.

Alongside the scarceness of food and water, disease is rife. My children are currently unwell due to the standard of food and water we have access to and they currently are not able to receive medical attention due to lack of medical availability. Myself and my wife are trying to comfort them in any way possible - but we worry about their health and whether they’ll be okay. This is particularly traumatizing as I have lost my father in the war due to restricted access to medical attention, ultimately leading to his passing.

This is simply no way to live. We have become collateral damage to a dystopian reality we never signed up for. Even though the border to Egypt is currently seized and we cannot leave, we believe that a chance for evacuation may arrive and we need to be able to pounce on the opportunity when it arises. It would be a shame if we were granted the opportunity, but were financially restricted from escaping imminent death.

HOW WILL THE FUNDS BE USED?

Please help myself and my family evacuate Gaza. We are people that love life and we are people that only have each other. We refuse to let the war consume us. Any parent wants their children to see the world in all of its colors and would hate for their children to experience the anguish and hardship that we so desperately attempt to protect them from. Please help me give my children a better future and help us escape the jaws of death. The truth is that if we don’t escape, this GoFundMe will be a testament that we tried our best and that we were people that refused to give up. Please be the reason we can try again. No donation is regarded little and we appreciate all forms of support.

Thank you so much for your time and for standing alongside us!

Lots of love,

Mohammed, Reham, Thaer and Lynn