(*NOTE: Though I sent the campaign goal at $3600, the actual need is much higher. I'm thrilled that we're approaching the stated goal--let's see if we can double it!)
Living in a tent...again
When Kamal and Wafaa Awajah were rebuilding their home in
northern Gaza in 2012, their children insisted that the house should have two
doors. One for regular entering and exiting. The second—a door to escape from,
in case the house was demolished again, as it had been in January 2009.
The children’s
fear was, tragically, realized. In 2014 the Awajah family finds themselves
surrounded by the rubble of their destroyed home for the second time in five
years.
I first met
the Awajah family in August 2009, in the tent where they were living. They are featured in my short documentary film "One Family in Gaza" in which they recount what had happened to them during the
military invasion that Israel called “Operation Cast Lead,” when their home was destroyed and their nine-year old son Ibrahim was killed.
I stayed in close touch with the Awajahs in the years that
followed, visiting them again in 2012, just as they were beginning to rebuild
their home. The construction of
the house proceeded in fits and starts, due to shortages of construction
materials in Gaza, and shortages of financial resources for the family.
Finally, the home was completed in the middle of 2013. Glass for the windows
were installed in February 2014.
During the most recent assault on Gaza in July/August 2014,
the Awajah family's home was destroyed again, along with the entire
neighborhood. The family is back in
a tent next to the rubble of their twice-destroyed home.
What We Need
I am hoping to send the Awajah family a minimum of $600 every month for the foreseeable future. With a steady amount they know they can rely on, they can begin to rebuild their home, and know they will have resources with which to buy food and clothes for their seven children, items with which to cook, etc. With the first $600 sent them, they built a bathroom and purchased a few beds for the children to share, so that they were no longer sleeping on the cold ground.
My stated goal of $3,600 will allow me to support the Awajah family for the next six months. Exceeding the goal will enable even longer-term support.
And, just as importantly, it will demonstrate to the family that there are people in the world standing with them. There are people who care.
The Truth Is...
The truth is, rebuilding this family's home in Gaza, not to mention the nearly 20,000 other homes that have been demolished or severely damaged, is not enough. What Palestinians in Gaza need most is the end to the occupation and crippling siege, an end to the circumstances which every few years leads to another devastating military operation. We must all work towards that end.
But in the meantime...we can help this one family, right now, have a home.
We can help these seven children, who have lived through trauma after trauma, feel a measure of stability. We can help this devoted mother and father do what all parents desperately want to do: provide shelter, food, clothing, an education for their children. We can help them give their children hope that there is a future for them.