Help Kamel Al-Ashaal Bring his Family to Safety

Hello, I am Kamel Al-Ashaal from Gaza, Palestine. My family and I used to live in love and peace. I used to go to work and then come back and buy everything my family needed. At the end of the week, we all went on a picnic, and our lives were very beautiful. But today, unfortunately, because of the ongoing war here, we were displaced and our house was bombed. We are homeless and suffering from poverty in all aspects of life. We have children and the elderly, and my wife is pregnant and about to give birth in the coming months. She needs health care and healthy food, so I hope you will help me and my family so that we can meet our needs and we can leave the country. Thank you.

More than 7 years ago, I started working in a bakery here in Gaza and began to learn how to prepare Eid cakes, pastries, croissants, and pita bread. I learned everything within two years and became proficient in my profession and loved it greatly. From here, I began to advance in my work until I became a chef here in one of the bakeries in Gaza. There was a good staff. I loved them all. Unfortunately, some of them were martyred. I hope that those days will return and I will return to my work or go out to another country and remake cakes, sweets and croissants and let everyone get to know Palestinian sweets. Below is a photo of me from before the war, and some photos of the baked treats i made.

I wish I could show you pictures of my family while we are suffering from the war, but unfortunately this is very embarrassing for my family because we are an Eastern Islamic and conservative society and my wife feels it is not appropriate to publish pictures of herself, as this is unacceptable in our Islamic religion. As for me, I wish the world could see our condition and situation, how we were before, and how we are now. Our features have changed due to the lack of food and the war that has been going on for ten months. At the very least I have included a photo of the remains of our home. There is nothing left

The funds we are asking for is $70,000 CAD. which translates into about $48,500 US. $32,500 US will be used to secure our exit into Egypt, and $18,000 US to help us provide for family for 6 months. We are 8 people, 5 adults and 2 children, and each adult costs 5K; each child 2.5K so the total evacuation fee is 5x5K + 3x2.5K = 25K + 7.5K = 32,500K.

We have calculated that we will need $3,000 per month, and have optimistically calculated it will take us 6 months or $18,000 US. Consider that everything in Gaza, particularly healthy food is very expensive. This is the reality we live in.

Our family would be most grateful if you would help us by donating or sharing our campaign across social media

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My Name is Guillaume Eizlini, though I go by Will Eizlini. I am a Canadian citizen who has gone to the Occupied Palestinian territories since 2003. In fact October 2023 marked exactly 20 years since my first journey among Palestinians, doing puppet shows for kids with a Canadian puppet theatre troupe.

I am creating this campaign because this war has broken my heart into a million pieces and as a function of this, I began to paint what I saw in the news, on Instagram and X (twitter) with respect to Gaza. As I began posting my paintings, I received a lot of messages from people in Gaza, asking for help. I have donated a lot of money and helped to promote campaigns by sharing them on social media

This is the first time I am creating a campaign on behalf of someone in Gaza. I have been communicating with Kamel for a few weeks now. Kamel does not have anyone outside of Gaza currently that can help, so i jumped on board. I am not family and i have not met him in person, but I have received photos with his ID and him holding his ID so i trust him.

It is my firm belief that the larger actors, the western states, have failed to truly stop this horrific war. So what are our choices? We can distract ourselves and not take responsibility, or choose to help and do the best we can, and take measures into our own hands as an expression of solidarity with the global south — the kind we would like to experience if the roles were reversed. So i am doing this for all of us. So we can build the foundation of a truly post-colonial world. I will not take a penny for myself. All the money will go to Kamel and his family. I believe doing this make micro changes in the fabric of the world, and that it will lead to the world becoming a more empathic and connected world. And with the climate change and all the other aspects of our world crumbling. What we will need the most is empathy.

Why did i choose Kamel ? I didn't. He chose me. He saw a painting related to the Gaza war I was promoting for an exhibition and contacted me, and we began to message each other about our lives and his current situation. I am not family, I am just a friend. The kind of friend I hope we all move more towards becoming