Help Sama's Family Get Out Of Gaza

Hi,

My name is Paolo Scalia, a Rome based agro-economist specialised in international development cooperation.

Since 1980 I have been working in 60 Countries and over the past 2 years I have done several missions in Gaza to support EU Cooperation projects there.

Sama' UCAS University of Applied Sciences in Tal el Hawa - Gaza

Follow a video shared by Sama with a sad and emotional testimony of their dire situation

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QIQZulpJxaRgP4YIdWQdANo8TrFADhFc

In July 2023 in Gaza we met with Sama Al-Masri and her family. She is the relative of Nuha, my Gaza resident colleague. I am now reaching out on Sama' behalf, who, along with her family, are facing the ongoing unthinkable crisis. Sama has three siblings: her 19-year-old twin sister Lama, Zena, a 17-year-old sister in her penultimate year of high school and Jameel, a 10-year-old brother.

I am launching this GoFundMe campaign to get her family out of Gaza, give them a chance to survive and allow them a future, completing their education in Egypt.

They live in the very dangerous neighbourhood of Deir Al-balah; they have been subject to constant bombing for the past 3 months are living in fear that they may be killed any moment.

Sama is studying Cyber Security Engineering UCAS University of applied sciences in Gaza (see picture below of the damaged building) and her twin sister Lama studies Artificial Intelligence

However the bombing left no universities or schools in Gaza.

Sama lost many friends and relatives and has witnessed numerous families losing their lives.

Since October 7th her father spent all family savings to purchase essential food items. His salary as an employee was cut off . Now, he can barely provide the flour for bread.

Sama's family evacuation to Egypt will only be possible with the help from people outside Gaza. Getting through the Egyptian border is extremely challenging, with a cost of 7 - 10 thousand dollars for each person to pass (and the price is still rising).

Direct beneficiaries of the GoFundMe appeal are the 6 members of the Al-Massri family: the 4 brothers: Sama, Lama, Zena, Jameel and their parents Fayha and Abed Alaziz Almassri.

In Sama own words:

" In the first photo, my sister and I went home after a long university day and along the way we exchanged ideas for projects that we plan to do in our second year of university; every day we discussed our plans, ideas and dreams. Now that most universities have been bombed and destroyed, we will not be able to pursue our dreams. We are very concerned about our chances of surviving, our future and our studies.

Twin sisters Sama and Lama - June 2023

The second picture is when I took my little sister Zena from her school after she finished all her exams. That day I rewarded her efforts and took her shopping. Now I'm afraid for my little sister's future, knowing that she won't be able to complete her studies and graduate from school ... Same thing for my little brother Jameel; he is still very young and I am crushed to witness his and our education opportunities being wasted. We don't want our lives and education to end here and now. We have so many dreams to fulfil and so many experiences that we want to have and plans to do.

Zena and Lama, 2023

Sama and her family

Because of the danger we face and the extreme hardship we experience these days, all my family and I want is the chance to conduct a normal and safe life for a while and to complete our education at Egypt's universities and schools. "

With Sama we intend to provide full traceability to this funding. Progress on the plan to travel to Egypt and to follow up studies for the four siblings will be published on facebook at regular intervals, with detail of the expenses supported by this help (administrative costs, travel costs and education costs).

Also you may contact me directly at any time for clarifications and update

Thank you for helping Sama 's family. This would be life-changing for them and their last hope for surviving, conducting a normal life and fulfilling their learning aspirations.

Paolo