Help us escape from Gaza war and rebuild our life

I'm Yousef Alwadiya, I'm 30, I’m from Gaza and I’m married to Reem (23) with a one-year-old child (Anas). We used to live in a beautiful house with a beautiful yard, I used to run my own small ice-cream shop.

Our life has been full of wonderful moments, we always shared quality time with our only child who used to play with his toys happily and safely but now he cannot find any place to play around.

But now he cannot find any place to play around. It is the 7th time we displaced from area to another! And we still don’t know where to evacuate to!

In 2015, I started my own ice cream shop with some help and support from my father who’s had a long experience with this type of products so I worked hard day and night to begin my business. Moreover, this business is my passion because it simply makes children feel so joyful and jubilant when they eat ice cream as it’s their favorite. I’ve had always motivated by improving my marketing skills and diving more and more in making this business more popular and successful. In spite of the hard work and challenges at the of beginning of this job, I managed to succeed and the shop I run has become a destination for many local people. At this turning point, I pursued my ambition of developing my business so I had a master degree in entrepreneurship and innovation management at Bahcesehire University in Istanbul in 2022.

All of sudden, my business has gone during this war against Gaza Strip, Palestine. However, this business was my passion so I feel more motivated to rebuild a new ice cream shop in other country and start again from the scratch! my experiences and achievements in this business is going to help me as well as your supporting.

Like lots of Gazans, our house was affected tremendously by the heavy airstrikes hitting civilians everywhere. I don’t have any shops left to survive my family. Anas has lost all his favorite toys. And he got sick during this war and I can’t find any medicine for him.

Unfortunately, this beautiful life has become nothing since October 7th. After the war had started against Gaza, our life turned to be a completely miserable one. Look how hard it is! We were forced and ordered to leave our properties, houses and everything behind us, having a glimpse of hope going back within a few days but it has been now for more than four months, under all types of oppression, trauma and hardship. Safety and Gaza are opposite words even in the south of the Strip as the Israeli army ordered us to go towards there.

Imagine you are escaping death and just

leaving home with your summer clothes and now it is cold. We are not able to find any clothes to protect our child from cold. What about the diapers and milk which are not found and, if found, are very costly!

While we were far away from our house, we were informed that our house was broken into by the Israeli troops and was damaged badly. Everything inside the house was literally burned, It’s unlivable at all, we can only see the black ashes of the giant destruction caused by the missiles.

Not long enough, we were also told that my shop was also damaged by the heavy bombardment nearby it. Now we’ve lost our source of income and everything we have! Every day I am trying to get some bread to my child to survive!

Seven places have been evacuated to so far and you can imagine how horrible this is for a family to seek shelter escaping death everywhere! A wave after another full of frustration, helplessness and panic.

One night, my pregnant wife was weeping so hard screaming, “Whosoever can help us! Can anyone bring us our lost life back again? Aren’t we humans dreaming of a better future for us and our innocent children?! I NEED TO SURVIVE THIS GENOCIDE! PLEASE ask your friends to help us and do whatever they can do! She misses all the family gatherings and memories!

As people say, what goes around, comes back again! We were always giving hands to our people and helping them with all of what they need but now we are the people who need any single act of help or hope! I am speechless and helpless; it really hurts when you need something but you cannot buy it or even get it easily from shelters!

As I lost almost everything, my family members are suffering everywhere. Everyone seeks only one thing. JUST SURVIVAL! Reem, Anas and I hope for an instant ceasefire so we can be able to at least get out of Gaza as soon as possible.

The funds will be used as the following:

We need your help and care to help us bring up our child in a safer place and rebuild our life. For that, we need to raise the money to make and survive the journey. Please support us and help my beautiful family. No matter how small, it will make a significant difference to the safety of my family. Your help gives us hope again!