Help evacuate my family from Gaza

Hello to you all...

My name is Mai. I'm a single mother who works as a bank employee. I live with my two sons (22, 18), my daughter (21), my mother (77), and two cats, whom I have raised alone since they were young. Like most single mothers, I have suffered alone through difficult times in order to provide a safe life and a promising future for them, which I was eventually able to achieve. And for that, I was grateful to be able to see my sons living a good life and preparing for a hopeful future. However, everything changed on the morning of October 7, when the war on Gaza happened. Me and my family had to live every day in constant fear that any day could be our last. As the war continued, we repeatedly kept leaving our home and going back to it due to bombs dropping near us, until we reached a point where we had to leave our home for good and evacuate for the south. As we were told on November 10, I left my home thinking that I might not see it again, which left a big hole of emptiness inside of me, a place that I worked hard for to provide a warm and comfortable home for my family where we can create memories that last forever, memories that are living with us in these sad days. We headed for the south, fleeing from war and running away from death, as it was haunting us in every place we went.

We evacuated our home and went through the so-called 'safe path', where we had to walk for several hours with nothing but our bags on us, including the bags that we put our cats in as they were the only things that we were allowed to carry, while we were surrounded by soldiers and tanks from each corner, we kept walking until we couldn't anymore. My mother, who's suffering from chronic diseases, lost consciousness twice during our walk as her illnesses kept worsening.

We suffered through that day what many people can't even imagine.

After we reached the south, we found ourselves living in a tent, as many people did. A tent is everything but a home; it's a cold, harsh, and depressing place to be living in, but we had no other choice.

I was broken and sad to see my mother suffering from cold, hunger, and diseases and needing her medicine while I'm unable to provide it for her due to a lack of it. As well as food that was hard to get and even impossible at times. No matter how many tears I have shed, it wasn't enough, and it will never be enough. Looking into my son's eyes, seeing that their dreams and goals have completely been destroyed and that their future that they worked hard for no longer exists, My eldest son was supposed to get his bachelor's degree on the same day that the war started, as he was planning to continue his master's degree outside and is now unable to do that. My daughter, who was engaged and waiting to celebrate her wedding on January 24, had her dream of being a bride killed. The house that she was supposed to live in with her husband and build a family in was completely burned. This war has taken all of her happiness, as she doesn't stop crying. All of this wasn't enough, as things kept getting darker and worse as we received terrible news that our house had been completely destroyed—the house that held my family together for years. As sad and depressed as I was, I had to keep moving forward for my family.

On the night of December 31, as the world was celebrating, we couldn't sleep that night as bullets were raining on us after severe military engagements in the area that we were staying in. When the morning came out, we took our tent, with the minimum things that we could carry, and evacuated to Rafah, the farthest city south of the Gaza Strip, near the borders with Egypt. By that time, it was a total of seven times that we had to evacuate our place of residence. We built our tent in a crowded place full of thousands of tents in a desert area. We tried to settle there as best as we could, but it was nearly impossible because there were no resources in the area at all, including food, water, and medicines. One week later, one of the hardest things hit us as one of our cats died due to her getting seriously ill with no veterinarian available to treat her illness, leaving sadness behind her after 5 years of joy we've had with her in our lives.

After 5 months of suffering and disappointment, hoping that this nightmare will someday end, I have reached a point where I have stopped believing that it will. As of now, I have lost everything that meant something in my life. The only thing that's left for me is my family, and I pray that I don't get to the day I lose them either. I have reached a point where I am convinced that if we don't leave, I will end up mourning one of my family members. But the cost of leaving isn't as easy as it sounds. The prices that are being asked for to cross the borders between Gaza and Egypt are way too expensive, reaching more than 6,000 USD per person, as well as other expenses, including accommodation and necessary living expenses in Egypt, which reach a total of 10,000 USD per person. This is the price that we have to pay-the price of life-the price of leaving war and death behind to reach a safe place.

So I turn to you now to seek your help and to ask you to stand with me in this hopeless situation as I look at you as my last hope. With your help and donations, there will be a chance to make a difference for us and ensure that we reach safety.

Lastly, I would like to thank you all in advance for your support and for the time you took to read this. Your support, whether in donations or prayers, means everything for me and my family.

Endless love.