Help Mariam (20) get her family out of Gaza

Hi, we are Egan Garr and Simone Atangana Bekono, two writers living in Amsterdam, NL, and raising funds for a young poet from Gaza.

Mariam Mohamed al Khateeb is a 20 year old dental student and aspiring poet from Gaza, currently residing in Egypt. She contacted Egan over Instagram in early March, asking Egan to read one of her poems. Nothing more. After reading Mariam's heartwrenching words, Egan asked Mariam if she could show the poem to someone she knew would appreciate them, too. That person was Simone. We immediately felt we wanted to do something for this young woman, whose life had been taken over by fear and despair, and asked for nothing more than a couple of strangers bearing witness.

We both felt the poem - Mariam's story, the story of thousands - deserved a life of its own, rather than be owned, manipulated, and used by the literary machinery. We set up a digital zine of Mariam's poem, which can be read and shared, virtually unbound and without limit (linked below). But we wanted to do more. We wanted anybody who would be touched by Mariam's words like we were, to be able to help her secure her family's safety. This is why we're helping Mariam raise funds to get her family out of Gaza. You can read more about Mariam and her family and how you can help below.

Mariam Mohamed al Khateeb is a 20-year-old poet, writer, oud player, and former dentistry student at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, which Israeli warplanes targeted and bombed in November.

Since October 7, her life has been consumed by death. She is desperately looking for ways to save her family, who are stuck in the middle of Gaza.

Her family is her father, who lost his place of work, her mother, who suffers from heart and back problems and requires medical care, her older brother Khalil (23), a medical student, and her three younger siblings Marah (17), Zain al-Abidin (14) and Zaina (10), whose schools were destroyed. Marah is a painter and had plans to study engineering, and Zain is a professional chess player, a kung fu black belt, a sports coach, and honors student.

Mariam doesn't have the means to set up her own GoFundMe, nor does she or anyone she knows have access to fundraisings initiatives. We are planning on raising money on our own accord and transfer everything that comes via Western Union.

Mariam wrote a piece about Ramadan in Gaza here. She writes: "...[W]e know it's iftar or suhoor time because the Israelis start bombing. It makes us really angry. They occupy us, kill us, starve us, and now they want to kill our religious habits. Last year, I did my suhoor and iftar based on the adhan, and now it's based on the sound of bombs."

Visit the digital zine of Mariam’s poem: here

Read this article about evacuating Gaza: here

You can donate as much as you can spare. Thank you so much for helping Mariam to get her family to safety.

Mariam Mohamed al Khateeb,

Egan Garr &

Simone Atangana Bekono

The zine and fundraiser owe thanks to Nour Naimi, Nisrine Mbarki, and Katherine Halls. 100% of raised funds will be transferred to Mariam quickly and in batches.