Help Alia and her Family Evacuate from Gaza

Hi, my name is Darla and I'm organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Alia and her family, who have made the difficult decision to try to evacuate Rafah City. This is an emergency situation. Alia's Baba's frail health is of primary concern to the family; he is struggling with an end-stage renal failure chronic illness and needs to be near a functioning hospital for his medication and treatments. Alia is also trying to protect her five younger siblings, three of whom are pictured above. The family needs to evacuate the Gaza strip before Israel launches a ground invasion in Rafah City; an invasion might lead to crossroads being closed for several months. As we all know, there is no safety to be found anywhere in Gaza while it is under attack.

Alia is a 20-year-old writer and English literature student from the Gaza strip. She is in her fourth year of college. I know Alia through my good friend Irene Behrman, who is herself fundraising for another friend trying to flee Gaza. Irene got to know Alia through the We Are Not Numbers community (a youth-led, Palestinian nonprofit whose mission is "to create a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can bring together a profound change to the Palestinian cause"). This is Alia:

Alia's statement:

"After exhausting every thought and trying every possible method to ensure my family's safety and Baba's access to proper treatment, came the decision of raising this campaign. We have never ever wished to be somewhere else but in Gaza, but my people don't get to choose anyway. We need to be evacuated from here urgently to safety. My Baba suffers from an end-stage renal failure chronic disease. He has been trying to get a medical referral for a month now but with no response. His fragile health is the main reason I am launching this campaign. He's suffered other dangerous complications too related to his heart and has gone under 2 heart procedures. With the scarcity of medication and food, he is becoming frailer. We have contacted NGOs and other international organizations, hoping that they would help evacuate my Baba, but every time the response is 'unfortunately, we could not help you...best regards.'"

Alia's Baba is in precarious health and urgently needs access to a hospital with dialysis for his treatments.

Alia has five younger siblings. "Ala is an 18 year old ambitious university student-to-be. She graduated high school with a GPA of 98.6%. Sima is a 16 year old high school student, the top of her class. Rawad is a 13 year old artist, Nour is a 9 year old dreamer, and Ibrahim is an 11 year old doctor-to-be 'as he always wishes.'"

Rawad, Nour, and Ibriham

In total, Alia's is a family of 8; each member must pay $5500 to to an Egyptian service that will allow them leave the strip. Despite saving every penny, they cannot afford the cost of evacuation on their own.

"With the looming ground invasion on Rafah City where we live, which includes the possibility of attacking the last functioning hospital in the entire strip that already has insufficient dialysis chairs, securing my Baba's medication (dialysis) and securing a safe shelter for my younger siblings has become a burden upon my family. I decided to take this step after having knocked upon every door of possibility and getting rejections and 'best regards."

For transparency: I (Darla) am a writer based in Portland, Oregon. All funds raised from this campaign will be sent directly to Alia's cousin in Egypt, who will pay the fee for Alia and her family to be evacuated from Rafah City.

To all my friends and anyone this reaches: please consider supporting this fundraiser in whatever way you can. Regardless of whether or not you are able to donate, please share this to your social media channels, email/text it to friends and family, and tell people about it in person. Remember: we are all we have.