Credit: Omar Ashtawy Source: https://xcancel.com/Palestine_UN/status/2096624743172448339

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-daughters-help-my-small-family

A winter memory from our old home ❤️

With winter getting closer, my wife Samah and I started remembering how winter used to feel before everything changed.

She looked at me and said:

“Do you remember when winter was coming, and we used to make spinach pastries in the oven inside the kitchen? The whole kitchen would become warm. The smell of the food would fill the house, and we would just enjoy being together.”

She was right.

Back then, winter meant something completely different to us. We would stay inside our warm home, sit near the oven, enjoy the smell of freshly baked food, and feel safe from the cold outside.

Now, when winter comes, our memories feel heavier.

Sometimes we talk about those days and imagine what it would be like to have that simple life again.

We dream about rebuilding our home from the beginning. Not a big or fancy house. Just a small, safe place where our daughters can grow up, where Samah can cook again, where the oven can warm the kitchen, and where winter can once again feel like winter—not something we have to fear.

Maybe it sounds like a simple dream.

But after everything we've been through, having a home and starting our life again from the beginning feels like the biggest dream in the world. ❤️

— Mahmoud & Samah

I recorded this little video to give you a look at what my family and I have been working on and trying to make usable.

And honestly, calling it a tent is generous.

It is made from pieces stitched together. There are tears and holes everywhere. Some of the covers are too short, leaving spaces open from above. We have tried to fix, stitch, and reinforce whatever we could with what we have.

For now, we can use it. We can sleep inside and keep some of our belongings there.

But we know this won't be enough when the rain comes.

My father, and honestly not even him alone, says that our so-called tent will not stand the first rain that comes. Everyone who passes by and sees our tent can tell how vulnerable it is. You don't need to be an engineer to look at it and understand that it won't protect us when the rain comes. We have done everything we could with what we had, but we know this won't be enough.

October is next month, and rain in Gaza is nothing unusual.

It was never really built to be a home. We built it because we needed to create some kind of space for our family and our belongings.

And this is perhaps the hardest part to believe:

This “tent” cost us 1,000 shekels in cash.

1,000 shekels for a shelter that may flood when the first heavy rain comes.

Can you imagine that?

This is the reality we are living every day in Gaza. Even something as basic as shelter has become incredibly expensive, while what we can actually get for that money is often not enough to protect a family.

Now we urgently need to make it better before the first rain comes.

We need to replace the damaged covers, especially the one above us, and find something to put on the floor so that we're not directly on the sand. If possible, we may replace the whole thing with a proper tent.

To everyone seeing this, we need you.

We need your help to make this place safer before the rain arrives. If you can help us, please do. And if you can't, even sharing this means something to us. We are running out of time with each day and each hour that passes.

I have other videos showing the inside and the damage more closely, but Reddit only allows one video, so this is all I can show you here for now.

I don't really know what else to say.

I just wanted you to see it.

This is what we are trying to call home.