17/06/2024
To Whom It May Concern, I AM LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO CREATE A GO FUND ME PAGE FOR MY GAZA REFUGEE FRIEND GHADA AKA MEMP JAY. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557112224297
I specialize in helping refugees inside Gaza and publishing their stories. I have had my articles on them appear in online magazines, had an article written about my work with them featured in the American-Jewish magazine, Moment, and will be interviewed for a forthcoming podcast on refugee mental health in June. In addition I have a couple of more articles on refugees that will be published in magazines this summer. I am writing to you now to tell you about one of my refugee friends, Ghada Shanab.
Ghada was a successful woman and mother who worked hard as an English teacher and bought her own house where she and her parents and three daughters lived. As a single mother she was hit really hard by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invasion of Gaza. Her house was bombed and she and her family narrowly escaped. Since that day they have spent the entire war fleeing from place to place with little but the clothes on their backs. Although they have escaped death many times, they are now in a desperate state with the increasing scarcity of food and other necessary supplies since the invasion of Rafah. Before the war Ghada’s mother had surgery on her back and knees, while her father suffered from diabetes, kidney stones and high blood pressure. Today they live in a tent in the town of Deir Al-Balah that bakes like an oven in the summer heat, and they are constantly bothered by insects—including scorpions, flies and mosquitos among others which make the children itch and leave rashes. There is a lack of clean water to drink, let alone to bathe and to keep cool with. Her parents have not received medical care since the war began, and the food supply has been dropping sharply since the closure of the border crossings in May. The only reason Ghada’s family is still alive is luck. But that luck is running out, and her family goes hungrier by the day. Hence, Ghada, like many other refugees, has turned to asking the outside world for help. She has no money and even a small amount would allow her to buy the necessary food, clean water and other supplies for living. The rest of the money would go towards rebuilding their lives once the war has ended.
These are before and after photographs of her apartment (that she found online). It was a wonderful place that she worked hard to build from scratch. Now it is all gone and her only wish in regards to it, is to visit Gaza City one last time to see its remains. Instead, IDF quad copters shoot anyone who spends to much time traveling from one place to another.
These are her precious daughters who used to be happy children that excelled in school. Now they cling to life in a barren tent in the middle of Gaza. It seems almost impossible that they will be able to follow in the footsteps of their mother who graduated with a BA degree in English from Al-Aqsa University in 2008.
If you have any questions about Ghada you can reach me via the contact page of my website for helping refugees https://erossalvatore.com/
