My name is Nina Christine Gorman from Philadelphia, PA, USA, a psychotherapist and adjunct social science instructor. I am doing this campaign to help my dear artist friend Jihad Al-Ghoul and his wife Samah in Deir Al-Balah and their children 4 year old Nour and one and a half year old Mohmmed and their parents of Jihad and Samah to survive the war and for Jihad, Samah and the two children to evacuate to Egypt and then to Belgium, Luxembourg or Switzerland.

 I came to know Jihad in the early winter of 2023 on facebook social media where he was selling his beautiful paintings of Palestine and nature. In our conversations about his artwork, life and philosophy we gradually became better and better friends. He also began assisting me in a book I started to write before the war on coping with trauma when I was interviewing him and others. He shared with me the challenges of doing his art under occupation enduring since childhood war after war and coping via “working with his colors” as he would say whenever there was bombing.

    I purchased several of his beautiful paintings some of which we can show you on the campaign. He told me how since his teen years he suffers from hundreds of pieces of shrapnel in his body from enduring indiscriminate bombing by the occupation in 2005 when playing soccer with his friends which led to loss of his leg and loss of seven of his friends. He went to university to study art but found the work not helpful enough to hone his skills farther and so he sold his art on his own with his paintings exhibited internationally and his many stunning murals dotting the landscape of Gaza.

  It was not easy for him and his wife Samah especially with Samah pregnant before the war started and limited availability of medical care since most of the hospitals were bombed by the time she had to deliver with a high risk pregnancy. He and Samah and their sons, Dyaa and Nour were so happy that little Mohammed arrived even though it was birth during a genocide, their home was bombed, and even though they had to live in a tent with multiple displacements and Jihad living in fear that if they were bombed their children would be orphans or killed that he would not be able to protect them quickly enough and save them especially with having to run with one leg.

  Then the horrible day came when their son Dyaa   was killed in a car accident,. Due to most of Gaza in rubble there is constant challenges with people and cars moving in and around each other. The loss of their Diya broke their hearts and they have never been the same again.

   Now they hope to just survive the war, have enough to eat and drink, and a little clothes and some medicine for Jihad and for the children who are prone to get sick like all children in Gaza due to the destroyed water and minimal and expired food available. Daily Jihad has to choose between feeding the family and getting his pain medications for his wounds. Healthy food and especially meat and eggs are so scarce and since the total blockade after the broken ceasefire so expensive.

  Since Gaza is totally destroyed, Jihad and Samah just hope to survive the genocide, get out to Egypt and then to Europe where Jihad can create his art again, support the family, Samah can maybe go to university and they can live finally with some security and happiness free from the hellscape and daily struggle to survive. I urge you to support the artist Jihad and the family as much as you can to give them hope that this dream can come true. Their dreams have been shattered. Help them pick up the pieces one donation at a time.

Here is Jihad in his own words:

   There is nothing more difficult than seeing your children hungry and tired from the severe cold and the spread of diseases, without being able to do anything for them, with more local marginalization and oblivion by those who manage the situation here in the refugee camp for the displaced in central Gaza. I never surrendered to my disability and the amputation of my leg as a result of the bombing of planes and tanks 17 years ago, but today I surrender to everything when I see my children hungry, their bodies preoccupied with the cold and frost without expenses to meet their desires and now with the heat and cold under the shade of a tent that does not protect from storms, strong winds and rainwater on the rubble of one of our homes, which is the area available to us, far from any fighting.

I apologize to myself a lot, I was withered and very tired without being able to get my treatment as well. The basics of life are completely absent here. I never imagined that I would reach this stage of weakness and helplessness, and that I would be afflicted with illness and pain from previous shrapnel since my injury and the shrapnel that this war has caused. We are tired and exhausted. What we are going through and living is the marginalization of our rights to life and the government's failure to provide salaries for the wounded for a year and a half since the war began made it more difficult with the trouble of walking with my crutch in search of anything to quench the thirst and hunger of my children and forgetting me here because I do not belong to any ruling organization here. I finished early in this war with expecting any organization to help me.

      When I see aid being distributed to individuals affiliated with the government and organizations, I am miserable here without receiving anything here since the beginning of the war and I am still looking at my hungry child and trying to take his time and distract his thoughts from asking for any food. We are not fine. We are dying slowly without anyone here feeling us, so I am forced to ask for your help for me here, if your hearts are merciful, if your heart is filled with tenderness and feeling for others, help me my wife and child Nour (and my new baby Mohammed born in the horror of this war)

   Bear my broken heart for my child who I lost as a martyr at the age of 5 in this war to flee Gaza so we can start a life free of this pain and support us in this life we have left until we are allowed to emigrate and start a new building that brings us together with love, colors and happiness as your beautiful hearts are full of love and life. Be with us in this genocide only. I will be with you and be strong with you.    Jihad

Here is the Budget for the Campaign

Food for Family for 2 months in Gaza $1000 (500 per month) for beans, flour, noodles, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, onions and squash fruit of papaya, apples and milk

Cleaning supplies including shampoo, soap and spray cleaner for 2 months $180 (90 per month)

Medicines for Rashes and Illness ($200) (100 per month) including ibuprophen, and prescriptions as needed

Medicine (Lyrica) for Jihadfor two months (260 per month)  $520

Transportation including for healthcare for 2 months $ 200 (100 per month)

Blankets (200)

Clothes for family of for 2 months $320 (160 per month) including outer wear, pajamas, shoes and jackets and underwear

Tent Maintenance for 2 months $200 (100 per month) for nylon, fabric, wood and nails

Heater for tent and battery $300

Survival Food in Egypt for 3 months until income can be secured $1500 (500 per month) including chicken, lamb, beans, eggplant, fish, rice, noodles, tomatoes, greens, potatoes, carrots , berries, apples, pears and milk and flour and spices and yogurt

Rent in Egypt for modest 1 or 2 bedroom apartment $ $1,950 (650 per month)

Clothes in Egypt for 3 months $480 (160 per month) including outer wear, pajamas, shoes, jackets an underwear

Transportation in Egypt for medical appts and for job seeking $200 (100 per month)

Evacuation to Egypt for 2 adults and 2 children $15,000 (5,000 per adult and 2500 per child) with the Egyptian Y Hala Travel and Tourism Company with funding needed before application can be made and no other organizational involvement or coordinators

TOTAL BUDGET $21,250

All donations are transferred from USA bank account of Nina Gorman to secure PayPal of Jihad Al Ghoul