Hana

My name is Hana , and I live in Canada. I am writing on behalf of my sister Dalia, a single mother from Gaza. Dalia is raising two children with non-verbal autism, and their lives were completely devastated by the war. She lost her home, her stability, and the sense of safety every family deserves. As a single mother caring for children with special needs, Dalia faces overwhelming challenges every day. She is doing everything she can to protect and support her children under unimaginable circumstances. Your support can make a real difference—providing shelter, essential care, and, most importantly, hope for a safer future. By standing with Dalia and her children, you are helping them survive, heal, and rebuild their lives with dignity. This is her story : " My name is Dalia Hussein. I am 39 years old, a single mother from Gaza, I am a mother of two children who have been diagnosed with severe, non-verbal Autism Spectrum Disorder. I was born, raised, and completed both my school and university education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I worked as a mathematics teacher at various educational levels (primary, middle, and secondary), and I also worked as a teaching assistant at a university for four years. After my marriage in Saudi Arabia, I gave birth to my first child, and my joy at his birth was immense. My life was close to ideal: I was a successful teacher with long professional experience, living a stable life with my husband. My happiness was completed with the birth of my second child. During the period in which I was caring for my newborn, I began to notice delays in my first child’s speech, and I was shocked by the appearance of abnormal developmental symptoms. I went through a long period of denial, moving from one doctor to another, and bearing heavy financial burdens outside the scope of health insurance, until he was officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. At that stage, I fell into severe depression, and my life was completely turned upside down. I faced major difficulties due to the lack of specialized centers for rehabilitating children with autism for expatriates in Saudi Arabia. Even when such centers existed, their costs were extremely high and beyond the financial capacity of both myself and my former husband. This situation forced me to make an extremely difficult decision: to leave Saudi Arabia and return to my family in the Gaza Strip, believing that the social environment and family support might help improve my children’s condition, in addition to the availability of a center for rehabilitating children with autism there. I returned to the Gaza Strip alone with my children and assumed full responsibility for their care. I was the sole provider for their medical, educational, and daily living needs. I sold all my savings and purchased a small apartment in order to provide an independent and stable environment for my children. I suffered greatly at the beginning of my arrival in Gaza, as people there had little awareness of autism spectrum disorder. Moving around with my child was extremely difficult, as he was highly sensitive to external stimuli. After immense effort—adjusting to transportation, enrolling him in a rehabilitation center, and gradually settling into stable housing—I began to regain a sense of stability. Then I started to notice signs of autism spectrum disorder in my second child. I immediately sought medical advice, and the diagnosis was confirmed. That moment was devastating and marked a breaking point in my life. Yet I gathered my strength and came to realize that early intervention was the only path forward. Since my arrival in Gaza, I have strived to be self-reliant by working in several jobs, in addition to starting small home-based projects, the most notable of which were making crochet items and homemade sweets and chocolate. Here are the links for my online stores: https://www.instagram.com/store.crochet?igsh=MTk3aW9hbTRwd28xZQ== https://www.instagram.com/lilichocolate2023/ I personally managed every aspect of their daily lives, including transporting them to the rehabilitation center, securing their nutritional needs, monitoring their sleep and health, and supervising them around the clock. A noticeable improvement was observed in my children’s condition as a result of their regular participation in rehabilitation programs. However, the death of both my father and mother due to the lack of healthcare caused by the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip was a major psychological shock that pushed me into a state of depression, which negatively affected my children’s stability. In September 2023, after years of struggle, patience, and tireless effort in caring for my children and raising them, my second child, Abdul Rahman, finally graduated from the rehabilitation school. My heart overflowed with joy and pride when he was accepted into the first grade of mainstream education in the public schools of the Gaza Strip. To celebrate this precious milestone, I lovingly prepared sweets at home with my own hands, and he shared them with his peers at the rehabilitation center—a simple gesture that carried all my gratitude, hope, and happiness. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxANe4rsshx/?igsh=MWx6cnVpYnl1dDllMg== On October 7, 2023, the war broke out in the Gaza Strip. On the first day, I was evacuated from my home to my family’s house (my parents’ home), and later that same day, under continuous bombardment, we were forced to flee again to my grandfather’s house. We left without any personal belongings and were only able to carry our official documents. I left behind the home I had built with years of exhausting effort and felt as though I was leaving my entire life behind. We moved from northern Gaza to the south, where we were displaced to relatives’ homes in the city of Rafah. We lived under extremely harsh and inhumane conditions, including severe overcrowding, acute shortages of food and medicine, lack of water, poor communication services, and the suspension of financial transfers. These conditions collectively led to a significant deterioration in my children’s health, as well as my own mental state. The interruption of the rehabilitation and training programs my children had previously relied on directly contributed to the regression of their health and behavior. The conditions we endured in Rafah during displacement were utterly inhumane and degrading. We remained in Rafah for seven months, living between fear and terror, expecting death at any moment, and mourning the martyrdom of a large number of my family members and members of my former husband’s family. The most painful part of that period was witnessing the continuous deterioration of my children’s condition and the loss of years of effort I had invested in their training and rehabilitation. Additionally, my children’s presence in a severely overcrowded environment, surrounded by people who lacked awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder and how to interact with those affected by it, placed an additional burden on them and on me. During that time, there was one young girl named Batool who, unfortunately, was the only person who helped care for my children when I was occupied. My siblings were extremely busy standing in long lines to obtain drinking water, non-potable water, and food. Batool would sometimes accompany me so we could take a short break and try to comfort my children by playing on the swings near the displacement camps. Sadly, this girl was injured during the war and later passed away, which caused an additional psychological shock for me and my children, especially since she was our only source of support during that extremely harsh phase. While we were in Rafah, I received news that the apartment building where my home was located had been targeted. My apartment was on the fifth floor, and the sixth and seventh floors were directly hit, causing the ceiling of my apartment to collapse and resulting in severe damage. Unfortunately, I was unable to return to northern Gaza to inspect what remained of my property. These are short videos of my house before the war : https://youtube.com/shorts/URkDIdOcjZ4?si=AUE7lV3_aSYwXH0K and after the first bombing : https://youtube.com/shorts/u2GUlQfSSoQ?si=KJNnbKTLvP8T-xwo My sister was forced to sell everything we owned, and we paid approximately $30,000 US Dollars to Egyptian coordination entities. After one month of coordination, we left the Gaza Strip for Egypt. However, unfortunately, there are no services in Egypt for Palestinian displaced persons or war victims. During my stay in Egypt, I received news that my apartment had been completely destroyed, as well as my family’s home in Gaza, resulting in the loss of everything I owned in my homeland. I am a single mother, separated from my husband, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, with no source of regular income. I currently reside in a very modest apartment in Egypt, where meeting basic needs such as rent, food, shelter, and clothing for my 11 & 9 years old children is a daily struggle. My stay in Egypt is undocumented, as the Egyptian government granted only a 45-day legal stay after our departure from the Gaza Strip, and I was unable to obtain either a residency or work permit. I visited the UNHCR office in Egypt, where I was informed that evacuation is not possible for UNRWA card holders, as Egypt is not considered a primary country for evacuation. I submit this statement to request your support and assistance so that I can stand on my feet again, provide for my children, and secure a dignified life for us. I hope that this story reaches decision-makers who can help provide safe housing or shelter for me and my children, ensuring a dignified and secure life away from the harsh conditions we have endured " https://youtu.be/JFPw7uyHdHI?si=4F35TBdpM_NZMi3A