I have become close to Deema during the past 18 months and her outlook on life itself has been shattered. After losing everything - her home, her family, her will to live - we need to act now to show her she is not alone. Our relative privledge and safety here is not something we should ignore; we are beyond lucky and should use this protection to aid others who do not have such luxury. Deema is a student just like myself, studying denistry Al-Azhar University and dreams of becoming a dentist to help people — to heal pain, to build a future. But today, she is fighting just to survive.
No aid has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for 2 months leading to shortages of food, safe water, shelter, and medical supplies. Due to these shortages, prices are extremely inflated as food and necessities are so scarce - we need to raise money to help Deema survive and achieve a basic level of human dignity. She is a young woman with dreams like you and me, with grief no one her age should bear, and with a quiet strength that somehow endures through unthinkable devastation.
I’m in direct contact with her and trying to support her however I can — sending money for food, menstrual products and medicine. But I can’t do this alone. I need your help to sustain her through this nightmare. This isn’t charity — this is an act of care, of solidarity, of resistance against a system that continues to crush the lives of young people like her. She is not a statistic. She is a 19-year-old girl with a future that still deserves to be protected. Every donation — no matter how small — will go directly to her. If you can’t donate, please share her story. Help remind the world that she exists, and that her life matters.