Many Lands Mutual Aid ~ Send Direct Aid to Gaza!

We are so excited to announce the launch of Many Lands Mutual Aid, a new chapter of an ongoing aid distribution project in Gaza spearheaded by our friend Hussein Alzaq!

Since the previous campaign was such a huge success, and sadly the need in Gaza won’t be waning any time soon, we decided it was time to regroup and start fresh in order keep the operation sustainable for all involved.

We’re in this for the long haul…

Like Hussein says to his community…

~ لن نترككم وحدكم ~ ‘We will not leave you alone’.

About our team:

We are 2 activists based in NYC and NC who’ve been working with Hussein for the past 6 months - raising and transferring funds from generous organizers/individuals all over the world straight to Gaza for him to redistribute.

He and his family of 18 have been sheltering in an UNRWA school in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza since their home and farmland were bombed in October.

This was the 4th time that their family business - a chain of poultry farms in the Al Shujaiya neighborhood, was intentionally destroyed by the occupation.

No strangers to mutual aid work, the Alzaqs used their farms to help support their community for over a decade- building wells for public use on their land, providing jobs, and giving away crops, eggs, and meat to their less fortunate neighbors. Despite their immense struggles, continuously losing everything and rebuilding, even now -in the worst situation imaginable- they’ve remained dedicated to helping others <3

On top of supporting his entire family, Hussein has worked non-stop to source and consistently distribute aid to as many other displaced people as possible. He works as a team with his younger brother Ismail who helps organize, translate, and make bank runs. While they’re handling all of the aid work, Hussein’s amazing wife Samah and mother Najah take care of his 6 children, his older brother Samer’s family, and injured or elderly members of the family.

Why Mutual Aid?:

UNRWA has hardly provided any food or water to the more than 12,000 people stuck living on the school grounds since October. And because of the occupation’s blockades and intentional targeting of aid convoy routes, the larger NGOs are heavily restricted in who they can reach. Direct transfers to mutual aid workers with working bank accounts has been one of the best ways for the outside world to lend our support to the besieged people of Gaza and keep countless people from starving to death.

Everyone there is just trying to survive day to day right now and survival alone is a vital act of resistance for the people of Palestine.

One of the most beautiful things about mutual aid work is that it can evolve and change as the needs of the community do!

Many of the families relying on Hussein’s help worked on or lived near the Alzaq’s farmland. During the previous campaign he was focused on helping these people, who they initially fled Al- Shujaiya with, get settled wherever they could- splitting his relief efforts between Deir Al-Balah and Rafah. As it became more difficult for Hussein and Ismail to make the dangerous journey to distribute aid to them in the south, they decided it was crucial to help these families start their own fundraising campaigns to become self-sufficient. Now that they’ve accomplished this, they can maximize the impact of our donations by focusing their efforts completely in the Deir Al-Balah camp, and helping tons of new families!

How your donations are used:

Reach definitely fluctuates depending on the amount of funding that comes in, but Hussein manages everything responsibly to maintain a consistent pace of distribution.

Everyone was forced to flee their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs right as winter was starting. Early on money was used for tent building-supplies, transportation costs, winter clothes, blankets, cooking setups, food, and clean water truck deliveries to the school from the desalination plant. Now that people are more settled and regular travel to Rafah isn’t necessary, funds are mostly used for daily necessities, general space maintenance, and on special occasions events to brighten people’s spirits :)

There are still functioning markets in Deir Al-Balah and now vendors set up near the school selling various goods, food, and drinking water. Since every family has different urgent needs, regular cash distribution remains the preferred method of aid for everyone.

In addition to weekly cash hand-outs to anywhere from 20 to 60 families, Hussein regularly plans large-scale charity and children’s entertainment events at the school. When extra funding is available his family provides produce baskets, meal packs, hygiene products, or children’s treats to large groups. They’ve also organized cleaning teams for the public restrooms to help disease from spreading and even hired barbers to come give haircuts to over 200 boys at the school.

This has also established a really awesome way to provide some small source of income for just a few of the thousands of people who’ve had none since the start of this war.

The support we all provide isn’t just life-sustaining, but hope-sustaining when it’s needed more than ever.

Our efforts and connection are a daily reminder that the world hasn’t forgotten about them and that we won’t stop fighting until they and everyone in Palestine are free and safe.

Follow Hussein on instagram- @husein_alzaq2 -to stay up to date on all his amazing charitable work and the unimaginable daily struggles all Palestinians are facing.

Please share and donate when you can, and don’t stop fighting for the people of Gaza!

*We want to convey the deepest gratitude to the organizer of Hussein’s previous 2 campaigns- Hailey Al-Mansoori <3

Without all her hard work this project wouldn’t be where it is today and non of us would know the Alzaq family. Her efforts allowed them to rebuild their farms after the last war and then start the Emergency Food Aid for Gaza campaign when they had to flee from the north at the start of this one.

Like the Alzaqs, she has come to feel like family to us, and if there’s one good thing that’s come out of this nightmare in Gaza it’s meeting these kind generous humans.