Help Elham Hamdan to survive life in Gaza

Hi I’m Antonia Bithell and I’m helping raise emergency funds for Elham, a young lady in Gaza who needs our help. She was a successful student until her university was destroyed by IOF. The money will be used for food, water, every day necessities and hopefully one day soon evacuation. Below is her story.

I am Ilham Hamdan from Gaza, I am twenty-one years old, a university student, but because of the war I did not complete my education. I lost my father when I was three years old, and after that my mother, sisters and I lived together. We suffered a lot because of poverty, so I worked hard in my school and then university. I was one of the top students hoping to get a job and make up for everything for my family, but I studied for two years in university and got a scholarship because of my excellence. I have two years left to complete because of the war and genocide we are currently living. First, we were forcibly displaced from our home in Khan Younis by bullets and shooting at us, I suffered many injuries in my feet and I was psychologically exhausted. We went to Rafah in a tent for about four months amidst diseases, poverty and pollution. I suffered a lot because of the widespread diseases and I got hepatitis, from which I recovered with difficulty, thanks to God. Then after the invasion of Rafah we returned to our completely burned house in Khan Younis and we had to "live in it because there was nowhere else to go, we had no source of income. We usually eat thanks to the few aid boxes that reach us, and when they are not available we bake bread by putting the bread dough on a metal surface that sometimes rusts a little and then we light a fire to bake the dough.

But by cooking bread directly on the metal we risk getting diseases and stomach pains that we cannot treat, because as you know there are not many hospitals and doctors here.

Our living conditions are absolutely catastrophic. We do not enjoy a proper level of hygiene and we cannot maintain a decent health condition.

"We have lost all the energy in our bodies and souls, and our psychological state is destroyed because of what we see every day, so I decided to create a special bond for me and my family

"I guarantee you all that life in Gaza is not as easy as the world makes you believe. I love Gaza, it was a beautiful place and it still is an important place for me today. Gaza is where I grew up and made my memories, it is where I made Life..."

And I, Antonia Bethel, tell you:

Can you feel the nostalgia and pain in these statements?

Because she did not complete her education and graduate before her university was bombed, Ilham did not get a degree to be able to work, but she did not lose her knowledge. She wants to continue her studies in Arabic abroad, most likely in Europe. Don't you want to help her achieve her dream?

Let's make their dreams come true, only we can!

I will use the money to evacuate Gaza, to continue with my life and rebuild my future. Most importantly, I will use your money to make my mother and all my family happy again! Imagine how happy you will make me to help me be the one to give my family the life they used to have again!! All thanks to your donations, God willing (God willing)" -

How will I use the money you will donate to me (my campaign goal):

1. Complete my educational journey abroad when the crossing opens and my dream comes true, and this will cost me $5,000 or more.

2. Evacuate me and my mother from here, and this will cost me $10,000, $5,000 for each person. (I am very attached to my mother and cannot leave her here, so I will evacuate her with me.)

3. In order to be able to buy household necessities amidst the unreasonable prices, we need $70 a day for lunch for four people in my family. I hope you will stand by me, we need $50 to $70 a day to survive. Of course, life here is unstable and we may have to flee at any moment.

And I, Antonia, want to tell you

The money you will donate will reach my bank account, and I will send it directly to Ilham's mother's bank account.

I know very well Deceiving people by lying to them for such an important cause is a grave sin and goes against my ethics, so I promise each and every one of you who read this far that the money we raise will reach Ilham, Inshallah.

, Thank you for reading to the end