From Crisis to Hope: Help Get My Family to Safety

Hi, my name is Shaban Olwan, 28 years old father and a husband from Gaza.

I’m posting this after months of thoughts and hesitation, with despair, believing now that this is our only option to stay alive. With the constant thought of the responsibility I carry, to protect my family.

In these incredibly tough times, we're turning to you with the hope that your kindness could change everything for us.

Due to the current war on Gaza, the situation has gone drastically bad. Our family is facing challenges that are pushing us to our limits, and we're reaching out, hoping for a glimmer of relief.

Gaza has been our home, with all its joys and struggles, but right now, it is a matter of life and death.

We're a big family, of 9 members, and we're struggling to survive:

My Wife: Jumana Shaheen, and my angelic little daughter Sophia Olwan.

My Father: Ahmed Olwan

My Mother: Reema Olwan

My Siblings: Esam, Hani, Batoul, and Nada Olwan

We've stayed in the north for a while but the situation became horrifically unbearable. We left the north and evacuated more than 5 times, threatened by airstrikes and death.

( Our house’s corridor and the building right next to it, before we leave it )

We rented a small apartment in a house which was bombed and partially destroyed. We spent a week closing the windows and open walls and make it barely livable. In the night, it gets really cold, dark, and we’re always worried about water leaks when it rains heavily through the night.

( Note: this is not our house in the north, but the place we are currently staying at. A small damaged apartment right to a destructed building bombed through the war )

The prices of essential goods has dramatically increased and everything is super expensive. With the lack of power and internet, and with me and my siblings losing our jobs and clients as Software Engineers, we're struggling to make income to cover our essential needs. Adding an extra level of hardship, to be able to afford living.

My younger siblings, Esam and Nada are not only suffering from the chaos of war but also battle a chronic illness called Crohn’s disease, a serious autoimmune system disease that could cause a fatal symptoms if not treated well.

Nada, desperately needs a shot of a rare medicine called Infliximab, but it's impossible to find it in here, in Gaza. She hasn’t taken the shot for more than 3 months now, which could cause a reversal effects in her 6 years of treatment journey.

Sophia, the youngest among us and the fruit of our day, is suffering the most. She is drinking polluted water, eating poor food options because of the blockage. Diapers are insanely expensive and rare to find. We managed to afford a smaller size which causes her rash and discomfort.

How the fund will be spent:

To escape this nightmare, we need $5,000 per person to cross the Egypt borders, plus extra money to stay there until things calm down.

The Egyption borders takes $5,000 each, 9 members x $5,000 = $45,000.

Cost of living for two months in Egypt, until we can provide an income = $5000.

Your help could mean everything to us. Your donation wouldn't just be money; it would be a lifeline, giving us a chance to find safety and a bit of peace in the midst of this chaos.

This is our last option, and there is nothing other than this that we can do, to live again.

Thank you very much, I appreciate your help and concern.

Yours Sincerely,

Shaban

P.S. These prices change everyday and will be updated in case of any update. I’m using my aunt’s account to post this campaign, as it is not possible to create on for Palestinian citizens. She will help us transfer the money and complete the payment in Egypt to be able to leave.