Support Diana & her Family To Escape The Genocide in Gaza!

Hi there,

I'm Michelle, an English teacher originally from South Africa now living in Barcelona. I'm asking for support to get Diana Alkolak and her family out of Gaza. I first met Diana when I started teaching her English through an online volunteer program. She wanted to improve her English so that she could get a job with an NGO to help her community. Six months ago she was living in her family home in Gaza city, now they are living in a tent in Deir-al Balah south of Gaza. As conditions worsen and their lives are threatened daily, this is an urgent plea for help.

Every day that Diana remains in Gaza is the reality of them not surviving the next bombing.

Diana's story

Diana is 27 years old and the eldest of 8 brothers and sisters. Her passion is helping others and she has been involved in humanitarian work since she was a child. She volunteered and engaged in many initiatives to help children with cancer improve their emotional wellbeing and has also undertaken activating initiatives for children in schools, people with disabilities, thalassemia and kidney disease, and other initiatives to help members of her community.

Diana's house has been bombed and destroyed and her, her mother and 7 sisters and brothers are now, like millions of other Palestinians, homeless. (Her father sadly passed away a year ago from a heart attack.) Three of her brothers used to go to university. Now their universities have been destroyed and they have been forced to drop out. Her younger brothers’ schools have also been bombed and destroyed.

Diana and her family have been on the road for months moving from one place to the next, from northern to southern Gaza, with only the clothes on their backs. The blockade imposed by Israel has further exacerbated their plight, depriving them of basic human needs such as somewhere to sleep, clean drinking water and food.

They have endured hunger and thirst, and with the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics since October, they have witnessed more death and destruction than we can imagine. Diana and her family have spent many nights sleeping on the streets, facing imminent danger. They hear bombs exploding day and night, have endured white phosphorus attacks, and have lost everything they own.

Hope for the future

The only way they have a hope of surviving now is to leave Gaza and flee to Egypt. But to do that they need to pay $ 5,000 per person to coordinators to take them across the border to Egypt. So for all 9 of them including costs to support themselves once they are there, they would need $50 000.

Why I decided to start the GoFundMe

In late 2023 when Diana told me that 100 people had died in her neighborhood the night before and they were clinging to their lives I asked what I could do to help. I'd already been sending money to UNICEF but unfortunately most of the time the trucks couldn't get through and then there wasn't enough for everyone. She said the only way they had a chance of surviving was to leave Gaza. And for that she needed to raise a lot of money to pay for the transport costs of getting them across the border. I had been feeling so helpless and didn't know what to do before, but with this at least I could try to help her.

Plea from Diana :

Your help transcends mere financial aid; it embodies solidarity, compassion amidst adversity, the essence of humanity, and a dedication to safeguarding precious lives. I implore you to join me in extending a lifeline to my family, facilitating our journey to safety. Moreover, I beseech you to stand in unity with us during this profound time in our existence.