Help the Qanou Family

Hello,

My name is Bridget and I'm managing this fundraiser for Raghad and her family. Raghad and I have become close friends and over 7 months now, I've come to know her family very well. When I say this beautiful family has asked for nothing all these months, I mean it. Their means of survival and resourcefulness to keep the family fed and 6 children together have been nothing short of remarkable. And in full disclosure, I even offered to help financially in the small ways I could over these months and they refused saying they were figuring it out. I'm mentioning this to you because as you can see by only starting a fundraiser now, they are in a different situation than many but this is because they have been spending the money they had and have been doing anything to avoid asking for help financially.

Hello everyone,

I am Raghad Qanou, a second-year human medicine student at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, or rather, I was like that, before I lost everything, literally everything...

Before the 7th of October, me and my family [8 members] were living in our cute house in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza, after huge suffering to repair it and return to living in it after it was destroyed in the 2014 war on Gaza.

We have begun to feel stable and peaceful. We attend schools and universities and pursue our dreams to improve the family’s situation and compensate our families for what they suffered on our behalf, and most importantly, to make them proud! , But unfortunately ... All of this was destroyed in an instant.

My family and I were forced to leave our home and forcibly move under fire 7 times so far! All this to escape death and hold on to the last shred of hope for a decent life!

We are now trapped in Rafah, in a narrow corridor next to a public toilet with a broken sewage system.

The sewage and waste are literally everywhere, the smell is bad and the diseases are killing us slowly. Many cases of hepatitis use this toilet. For a short period of time it will be like an epidemic!

We live in a place surrounded by nylon, which does not protect us from the cold or the rodents that spread throughout the place, and of course there is no privacy.

My fingers are already frozen as I write this...

For more than 200 days, we have been in a daily battle to secure bread, water, and anything to keep us alive. These things are very difficult and may become impossible in light of the stifling crowding in Rafah, the pressure on resources, the lack of aid, and the crazy prices of goods. I forgot to mention that there is no gas or electricity for cooking and we are forced to find primitive methods to cook our food on firewood, and other methods. In the midst of this war for survival, we receive news of the destruction of our home.

Everything in it was burned and then became rubble on the ground, our memories and our lives, all our possessions and important documents. We have lost everything. In addition to that, they destroyed my sisters’ schools and my beautiful university. They destroyed our educational future for many years to come.My family and I have suffered a lot, but we have reached the point of exhaustion, so I have started this donation campaign, to give my family a second chance, to help us evacuate to Egypt, resettle and start again!

*What will your donations be used for?*

The cost to travel to Egypt from Gaza through Ya Hala Agency is $5000 USD for an adult and $2500 for a child

3 adults = 15k (my parents and eldest sister Hala, age 18)

4 kids = 10k

(Raghad has already left Gaza on a medical scholarship so her evacuation is not included in this fundraiser)

-$1000+ gofundme fees

-$10000 Expenses x 4 months for my family of 7

-$600/month (12 months) for living expenses while I'm living separately and attending medical school

The reality is, my family and I will face many challenges once we they evacuate. The costs of rent alone in Egypt are high as 2000$ USD a month , This is another obstacle and a new chapter of suffering, but what matters for us is the first step, and escaping hell as soon as possible, because every extra minute here we face the risk of death, whether from bombing, hunger, cold, disease, or from psychological pressure! I hope I did not speak too long to you. Thank you for completing the reading.

Thanks to your support, Because it will save an entire family from death and give them a better life, and we must remember that every little bit is important and makes a difference.

Thank you for reading ♥️

____________

For any questions, feel free to contact me on IG at @mynameisbridget_

Thank you so much for reading this! We really appreciate it!

*Pls note that the amount we are fundraising for is listed in GBP though the costs in the description are in USD