Help the Farhat Family Evacuate Gaza

Dearest readers,

I’m Hala Awni Farhat, writing to you as a 16-year-old Palestinian girl currently stuck in Rafah city. My family and I were forced to flee our home in Gaza City due to the savagery of the occupation and the genocidal procedures carried out against Gazan citizens, displacing them from their areas of residence.

Prior to the invasion of Gaza City, my family of seven enjoyed relatively normal lives. Both of my parents, Awni Farhat and Sanaa Lafi, were employed in Clinical Laboratory Science. My mom worked in a governmental clinic, while my father operated his own lab. Their eldest daughter, my sister Noor (18 years old), was ready to embark on her first year of medicine at Al-Azhar University after passing her Tawjihi exams with stunning success. Malak (13 years old) had just started middle school with a reinvigorated dedication, and was eagerly seeking opportunities to join academies and clubs to enrich her educational journey. Yousef (10 years old) and Mohammed (9 years old) had innocent, hopeful aspirations typical of children their age: Yousef dreamed of becoming a football star, excelling in math, and maintaining his top position in class, while Mohammed aimed to read more and swim until he could proudly represent his country in the Olympics, draped in Palestine's flag.

As for me, Hala, I immersed myself in various extracurricular activities such as Youth Code-Gaza, the Creative Writing Club at Al-Qattan Foundation, and the Gaza Debate Club. In my 11th-grade year, I dedicated myself to rigorous preparation for college, meticulously balancing my studies for upcoming national tests, attending SAT lessons at Amideast, and seeking guidance from Horizons Academy to navigate the path to prestigious institutions like MIT, where my ultimate aspiration awaits: a major in computer science paired with a minor in chemistry. However, now the life of seven of us had is shrouded in tears. My mother's workplace lies in rubble, while my father's lab has been rendered unusable, crippled by the devastation. Noor's dreams and ambitions were on the verge of realization, only to be shattered before fruition. Her university, once a beacon of education and medical training, is now completely debilitated, shackling the dreams of hopeful Palestinian medical students, and jeopardizing the health of countless others in the strip. Neither I, Malak, Yousef, nor Mohammed can pursue our education, as our schools lay in ruins.

In an instant, we were torn from our beloved city, forced to flee our homes and loved ones, marked by the indelible scar of Displacement. The journey began abruptly on October 10th, 2023, with a chilling call to escape imminent danger. Guided by flickering flashlights, we navigated the chaos, seeking refuge with relatives until the Israeli army mandated our evacuation on October 13th, 2023. Enduring countless relocations, we found temporary shelter in Rafah, but life became an unrelenting struggle without basic necessities. In obedience to Mahmoud Darwish's poignant words, "we have on this land what's worth living," and so we cling to the faint glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow; however, the specter of ongoing genocide persists, trapping us in a relentless cycle of uncertainty and peril.

In this critical moment of desperation, we are reaching out to you and look forward to your immediate assistance for me and my family to survive the devastation of war. Your assistance will cover the expenses of evacuating from Gaza and rebuilding our shattered life. It goes beyond financial aid, helping us pursue our promising futures, providing us the opportunity to continue our educational, career, and ambitious pursuits. This fundraising target, which is $45,000 USD, encompasses various expenses essential for my family's transition. $28,000 USD is for entrance fees to Egypt, $12,000 USD for temporary relocation, immediate necessities and essential supplies, school fees, educational materials, and related expenses. The rest of the fund will be allocated towards travel documents, website fees, and transfer commissions.

I'm afraid the crew is about to wake up again; the news brings no solace. The invasion of Rafah is imminent, so we must act quickly and evacuate as fast as possible. Please, I implore you to lend your immediate support and share this campaign with others so we can arrive in Egypt before the closure of the Rafah land crossing. With your generous assistance, no matter the amount, you can make this possible. Yes, we are evacuating, leaving our city and home, but we have no doubt in our return. Just like Laila and Tareq once fled Kabul and faced life away from its embrace, we will return to rebuild our city. There's a Laila and Tareq in every single one of us, fleeing the embrace of our homes yet determined to return, even if the rubble covers every inch. But in order for Laila and Tareq to return and rebuild, they were able to achieve the feat I am currently striving for: staying alive.

Warm regards,

Hala Awni and her family