Support Raja and Her Family in Gaza

Hi, my name is Ian Garvey from the US and I’m raising funds to evacuate my friend Raja Tayseer Saeed Abu Al-Laban, her husband Khalil Omar Saber, and their three children Ibrahim (12), Raghad (10), and Yamen (4) from Gaza into Egypt, and then possibly from Egypt to Belgium but that’s yet to be fully determined.

Ibrahim, Khalil, Yamen, Raghad

Full Names of the Family Members:

Raja Tayseer Abu al-Laban

Khalil Omar Khalil Saber

Ibrahim Khalil Omar Saber (12)

Raghad Khalil Omar Saber (10)

Yamen Khalil Omar Saber (4)

Ibrahim, Yamen, Raghad sitting against the Rafah border wall

Ibrahim, Yamen (making a funny face), Raghad

Yamen, Raghad, and Ibrahim standing with the Rafah border in the background, with a child running up the hill behind them

Raja, Khalil, and their three children are among countless families in Gaza suffering from malnutrition, exhaustion, fainting, disease, dehydration, lack of access to clean drinking water, incomprehensible loss, psychological trauma, insomnia, all while being under the threat of bombs, snipers, drones. This is a family just like yours, just like mine, going through something I for one never thought I’d see on my phone screen and it’s truly difficult to comprehend the scale of destruction Gaza and Gazan families have seen firsthand.

The Harrowing Reality They Face

Unbearable loss: Raja's brother Mahmoud lost his two young sons Amr (8 months) and Anas (3 years), who were killed in a bombing. Mahmoud is still alive, but Raja tragically lost her other brother, Ahmed, and his 4-year-old daughter, Mira, in another bombing. These are not the only family members they’ve lost, but these ones in particular have left deep wounds in Raja’s heart.

Amr, 8 months old

Anas, 3-years-old

Mira, 4-years-old

Home Destroyed: Raja and Khalil got married in 2012. They rented an apartment and saved their money for 10 years to buy an apartment in 2022. They did not even get to live in it as proud owners for a full year: after 10 months, it was bombed and the building was completely destroyed.

Struggles for Basic Needs: Flour, once a very expensive item at the market, is now extremely rare to find. The family has mostly sustained themselves on bread they baked themselves and canned foods. People, including Raja and Khalil, have recently began depending on bakeries for bread. It gets so overcrowded that there’s been multiple incidents of people being trampled to death. This is a danger that Raja and Khalil face daily in order to keep themselves and their children from succumbing to starvation. Water scarcity is another situation with vast health issues like Hepatitis, which this family personally struggled with badly a few months ago. It’s getting colder every day now, and blankets and winter clothes are extremely hard to find and very expensive to buy.

Destruction of Healthcare Infrastructure and Widespread Illness, Disease: Gaza is facing a catastrophic health crisis as bombings, bulldozers, and blockade have decimated its healthcare system. Hospitals are overwhelmed, lacking essential medicines, equipment, and electricity to treat patients. Clean water is scarce, leading to widespread waterborne diseases like Hepatitis, while malnutrition and food shortages have left children especially vulnerable to severe health complications. Families like Raja’s have battled life-threatening sickness again and again and again. Without immediate intervention and access to humanitarian aid, the health disaster will continue to claim countless lives.

X-Ray of Yamen’s chest, for respiratory issues. He gets sick a lot

Hospital paperwork from when Raghad was extremely ill

Hospital paperwork from Al-Asqa Hospital

Inhumane Living Conditions: Tent supplies have been very expensive, between $600-$800 and are vulnerable to rains and the cold. It’s common for tents to be flooded by heavy rains, ruining peoples possessions in the process. Luckily, they are renting what is basically a storage container that’s been converted to a single room. It’s still very cold, but it’s safer from the rain. Getting all of your clothes, bedding, and personal items wet from floods and rain is extremely difficult for people in Gaza to handle physically and emotionally.

Why They Need Your Support

With the Rafah border closed, evacuating Gaza has become nearly impossible. We’ve heard whispers of people with extremely urgent medical cases being evacuation, but there is currently no channel for families like Raja’s to evacuate. Because of this, Raja and her family have had to spend some of the evacuation fund, and she says it costs them $2,000/month to survive. They have 100% spent their savings and it is up to people who don’t live under threat of bombardment to contribute a little from our paychecks to help a family during the most dangerous time of all of their lives. Without your contribution, they risk spending what they’ve been able to fundraise for their evacuation on daily survival. Please consider donating, even if it’s $5 or $1!

How Will The Funds Be Used

To start over safely as soon as a channel for evacuation opens, they need:

- $17,500 total to evacuate ($5,000/person over 15 years, $2,500/under 15 years)

- $2,000 every month until they can evacuate. Raja’s brother Muhammad recommends $15,000 to survive the next 6 months

- Roughly $25,000 - $40,000 to get resettled in Egypt or Belgium. These costs are hard to predict right now, and there will be updates about these costs when we cross that bridge.

- Cost for GoFundMe fees and WISE transfer fees

TOTAL: $72,500

We’ll set the goal at $80,000 to cover fees and any additional expenses, but we may need to raise it depending on their needs.

Ideally, they need the $17,500 and between $20,000 - $40,000 to cross the border and relocate as soon as they can evacuate. That’s between $37,500 - $57,500 to evacuate and relocate. Egyptian laws make it so they’ll only have a few days to get to Belgium once they’re across the border in Egypt. Although, they may rent a room in Egypt depending on the circumstances and what is possible when they cross that bridge. So ideally, this money needs to be raised as fast as possible with a minimum of $2,000 being raised every month to cover survival expenses.

It’s still in the works, but I’ve been planning to do monthly events in Atlanta to help raise money for this family. I’m going to try to have the first one mid January, and if all goes well be able to mitigate the monthly survival costs. If I can accomplish this, then the majority of online donations will go towards evacuation and relocation. The reason why it previously cost so much to evacuate is because, to be frank, Hala Travel was making as much money as they could from this tragedy because there was a weird gray area of authority and Hala Travel, being a local travel agency with the bureaucratic means to do so, took advantage of that. I’ve read news articles about the Egyptian government trying to pass laws to regulate all this, but I’m not sure if much has come from that. Depending on who gets authority over the crossing, it may very well be the case that no one will have to pay Hala Travel these ridiculous costs to get to safety but there’s really no way to tell.

How Will The Funds Be Transferred?

Raja’s brother Muhammad evacuated from Egypt to Istanbul many months ago. I receive GoFundMe transfers to a bank account I’ve designated solely for fundraising. From there, I transfer it to Muhammad through a website called Wise. He left behind his debit card with Raja so that she has direct access to the money and can use it for survival. Muhammad will facilitate the evacuation when the time comes.

A Message From The Family:

My name is Raja Tayseer Abu al-Laban. I am a mother of three children: Ibrahim, 12, Raghad, 10, and Yamen, 4. I am reaching out to you in a desperate plea for help. Until October 7th we were living a peaceful and happy life in Gaza, but the onset of the war in Gaza turned our world upside down, leaving us in a state of complete despair. As a result of the war, we lost everything: our home, our possessions, and even our basic necessities.

The situation in Gaza deteriorated rapidly, leaving us without electricity, water, and adequate food supplies. We were forced to leave our home (which is now destroyed) under fire with nothing but a few clothes on us. The area we lived in was completely destroyed and we are now struggling to meet our basic needs. My family is currently living in a two-and-a-half-meter-high caravan without basic necessities.

I am turning to you, dear friends, with a humble request for support. We urgently need to raise $5,000 per person to evacuate my family from Gaza and find safety elsewhere. This amount will cover the costs of transportation, temporary shelter, and provide us with the means to start over and continue my children’s education. We have exhausted all our resources and have tried to pool our savings to escape Gaza, but this is simply not enough to cover the cost of leaving for all five of us. These costs include transportation and basic necessities, which are beyond our reach.

Travel expenses include:

Gaza residents are required to pay $5,000 for each adult allowed into Egypt and $2,500 for each child.

Rent ($400 per month)

Clothing

Food

Shopping costs

I realize that times are tough for everyone, but any contribution, no matter how small, can make a huge impact on our lives. Your support will not only help us escape the genocide taking place in Gaza, but it will also give my family a chance to rebuild our lives and find stability in Egypt. Your generosity and kindness can make a huge difference to my family in this time of crisis.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your concern and support for our cause.

With thanks,

Raja Abu Al-Laban

How You Can Help:

(1) The most obvious way: Donate!

Whether it’s $5 or $500, your donation matters and is essential to get this family to safety and help them start again.

If you literally only have $1 to share, please send me that dollar through CashApp at $rough0peace and put “Raja” in the notes.

If you can’t this paycheck, commit $1 or $5 your next paycheck.

(2) Follow Raja and Khalil on social media and like/comment/share their posts.

BlueSky

@rajaatayseir.bsky.social

@khalil0mer.bsky.social

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@rajatayseir?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

https://www.tiktok.com/@sadlove197?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

You can also follow me on social media:

BlueSky: @rough0peace.bsky.social

Tiktok: @rough0peace

Instagram: @rough0peace

Note that we’re moving the majority of our efforts to BlueSky with the hope that we’ll face less suppression there as we move away from Meta owned social media.

(3) You can spread awareness by printing out posters/flyers and handing them out in high foot traffic areas, ask your favorite coffee shop or bookstore if you can pin a poster on a board or leave a stack at the counter, put a bumper sticker on the back of your car with a QR code, the possibilities are endless. If you need graphics for this purpose, please email us!

Thank you!