Ahmed’s family to get out of Gaza, and simply to eat

My name is Rick Perlstein of Chicago. You may know me as a writer and historian on the United States. Many years ago, I made a friend--I guess you'd call him a pen-pal--in Gaza. Bluntly, I met Ahmed Abu Reda because he was begging on Facebook.

The writer in me came out, and I engaged with him to learn more about life there, and also to probe whether I trusted this man halfway around the world to donate a little bit of money. He sent me photos, told me stories, and the more I learned about him, the more I did trust him—especially when he sent me pictures of him sharing the food he bought with my tiny donations with neighbors.

Then came the war—and a kind of running chronicle of what life there was like. The concrete floors his family slept on, the courtyard tents in the chilling rain, then in the desert; the waste stored in bucket; their moves from town to town, unable to carry clothes or food with them; the water truck mobbed by desperate refugees; his infant's illness from malnutrition—all recorded in photos sent in during the tiny intervals when the Internet worked, but which he sometimes had to walk a mile to reach. He is currently in Rafah, but that could change any day.

I send the money I raise directly to his cousin in another country, who sends it directly to him. But you can also donate directly to his family's PayPal page at https://www.paypal.me/rehamfreegaza.

He will use the money for things like food, diapers, tent tarps. Someday, he hopes to continue the work he did before as a social activist helping the poor, the sick, and children.

(if you wish to learn more about Ahmed Abu Reda's experience before the war, search on his name in this United Nations Report .)

Pics:

https://www.facebook.com/rick.perlstein/posts/pfbid02rcoTuyJaFCnd4ioP2m7PvuqasqLzEGLrGFk1YXqthMijakF3h27cQVxJh4GLF5QUl

https://www.facebook.com/rick.perlstein/posts/pfbid0v1vjM1VwPJL1tWVxn64EhN8Rr6C7bpy57BSb5ZeF54eLSseosQN6Z2G6X39sS7hQl

https://www.facebook.com/rick.perlstein/posts/pfbid0RH43bgyogMFEqVNbDE7bW1AvH9cJYZzz8VZbWGk8mGfn7YzfUj15UTFrZk2DYy2kl

https://www.facebook.com/rick.perlstein/posts/pfbid0g5mkbGThT3mjPqrBZrfMhFHuzcAHfMjF9HmzkHDiCGVSeQSWCosH5P2jdhfuf7ARl