Help My Friend Rafif And his Family Survive

Hi, my name is Richard, and I'm raising funds to send to a family trapped in Gaza by the Israeli blockade.

First of all, thank you for considering this.

You are everything that is good in this world.

Rami (nicknamed Rafif) reached out to me on Instagram on Tuesday the 5th of November, asking for help.

He and 17 members of his family, including young children, women and elders, are in Al-Nuseirat camp, just north of Deir al Balah, in Gaza.

As we are well aware, the occupation forces have closed all borders, and have cut off virtually all supplies of aid into the strip, including food, clothing and medicine. So in addition to the murderous assault, the bombings, the mass shootings and the general risk of death and injury, Gazans now face a slow starvation and risk of death by exposure this winter.

Prices have skyrocketed in the face of critically low supplies in Gaza, and no one is working thank to the complete destruction of society.

Rami has 17 people to feed and keep warm. We can help him directly by helping him buy food and basic materials for shelter.

I’ve verified Rami’s identity as best as I can, and he has provided his ID, photos and videos here for you to check. I hope they help assuage any doubts you might have. Restrictions imposed by tech companies and the wholesale destruction have obviously made a 100% proof impossible, but I’ve image searched everything and verified the translations. I am satisfied, but you are welcome to inquire further if you wish. Any information I've gathered is yours.

I've collated the information here for your reference.

VERIFICATIONS HERE

Obviously this is a dire situation, and many of us will be asking ourselfves questions, like "What can I do?", "Will this actually help anyone?", and the like. Helping one single family survive by enabling tham to purchase severely overpriced goods in the middle of a g*noc*de may seem like such a small contribution, or one that "takes away" from wider relief efforts in the area.

But consider this.

No act, however small or concentrated, takes place in a vaccum.

No work of charity, goodness or humanity is ever alone.

No amount of unity and solidarity ever goes away, but is kept within the hearts and minds of the giver and the receiver.

By doing this small thing, you are making a movement to create and maintain a link of solidarity, hope and strength between peoples separated by many miles, suffering under conditions created from above, and possessed of the same capacity to care and reach out to one another. Whether that is making a donation to a major charity or throwing some spare change to a small fun like this; be it showing up at demonstrations, participating in boycotts or protesting complicit actors; our combined efforts in many ways are the means by which we will help a new world come into being. One where we are assured that no child goes hungry, where no one goes to their bed covering their ears against the hum of killer drones or the screams of airstrikes.

We won't save the world by helping this one family. But helping them is part of how we will build the new one, because it is how we hone our skills of empathy, solidarity and unity.

I don't care how much of a cliché this reads, I'll say it anyway:

If everyone gave, there would be no need.

If we all stood together to resist evil, there would be no slaughter.

If we all marched against the move to target civilians, there would be no apartheid.

If we collectively said, ENOUGH, it would be enough.

Those are big ideals, but they are constructed of small building blocks of everyday goodness that are doable, every day.

Please think on it as you consider how you can (and believe me, you absolutely can) make a difference for the collective wellbeing of humanity.

It starts here.

Give something of yourself so that someone else can live another day, another week, another month. It is part of how we will survive this dark time with our humanity intact.

Allow yourself to give a damn.

In the interest of full disclosure, Rami's brother Kamel, who is in a similar situation, is also operating a GoFundMe, helped by a Canadian musician named William. They have divided financial responsibilities between separate branches of their family. Rami is looking after half, Kamel the other. Link to this fundraiser is here. Kamel has been verified online by a Dutch BDS solidarity organistion on Instagram, reachable here. We hope to add Rami to their list of verified accounts soon.