Help Waid & family escape war in Gaza

Hello! I’m Waid, a 19 year old software engineering student from Gaza.

Me and my lovely family always lived with big dreams and high hopes and worked to build a better future for ourselves and our community.

After the 7th of October the doors of hell opened on Gaza Strip and war hit our city hard. The seven of us ended up losing our home, education, and jobs in the blink of an eye. We've had to evacuate multiple times under active missile attacks and phosphorus bombings. We've been forcibly displaced to the south of the strip (Rafah) on foot, with no option to return North.

My family and I are enduring horrific misgivings, currently sheltering in a benevolent stranger's house. Every night hundreds of missiles and bombs showers our city causing more death and destruction. We are counting days until this nightmare is over not knowing if we’ll survive to the next day. We’re fundraising to collect the evacuation fees (which coasts around 6,000 to 8,000 per adult ) so we can escape Gaza through the Egyptian border (Rafah crossing) and start a new life like the one we had and worked for.

I still dream of reliving the old peaceful life my retired parents gave to us and can’t get over how our dreams and achievements got blown away.

My oldest sister Amira (27 years old) is a dentist. She works incredibly diligently and managed to become the pediatric dentist of choice in the Gaza Strip. Kids and their parents would trust her to fix kids’ teeth.

She also made her way in the academic path as a teaching assistant and an academic advisor at the University of Palestine. All of her efforts and dreams were shattered after her dental center was demolished and burned.

Her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.amirafayez?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Next is my other sister, Nour (23 years old), who graduated from the faculty of Civil Engineering in June 2023. She graduated first in her class and was super excited to start pursuing a master degree on her path to a rewarding career.

My brother Thair (20 years old) is also Civil Engineering student! He is also a gifted student, eager to complete his collegiate studies. Unfortunately, he was still a year from finishing when the war began.

Our youngest, Mohamad (16 years old), is a high school student. He's always worked hard to keep his grades high, and he dreams of a bright future where he can continue his education and future plans unencumbered by war.

And finally there’s me, Waid. For me this year would’ve been my golden year. I was starting my second year of university in software engineering. Beside my studies, I volunteer for YouthCode-Gaza, an extra-curricular program that teaches high-school-aged students computer science and human centred design fundamentals.

I was also selected by Google as a Google developer student club leader in my campus. I won the second place in the Palestinian Collegiate Programming Contest (PCPC) in 2023, which qualified me to represent my country in the regional competition in Egypt.

Well I think everything burned into ashes now.

We’re always striving to build a better future for ourselves, but we ended up homeless in a torn up city lacking food and clean water with poor access to medical care for our parents. As my mom suffers from hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, she requires periodic checkups and medications currently unavailable in our war-torn city.

It is only a matter of days until the military tanks reach to where we’re staying, so every minute counts.

Your donations will help us evacuate this hell safely to Egypt and get along with our education and career lives.

Sincerely,

Waid & Family

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For transparency, my friend James will be collecting donations on my behalf due to my poor access to internet connection. He lives and works in SF Bay Area. I met him during the YouthCode-Gaza program in July 2023.

His LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-e/