My name is Nina Gorman, a counselor and teacher in Philadelphia, PA, USA and an advocate of peace and social justice. I am doing this fundraiser to help my friend 20 year old Yahia  Asfour in Khan Yunis, Gaza survive the  war and continue to support a child  Ahmed he is caring for who is separated from his parents and  an  elderly couple who are often sick,  Mahmoud Odeh and Sabah Odeh, to get him  medicine and treatment for his back injury from shrapnel and to help him evacuate to Egypt with a child he cares for who is separated from his parents.  Yahia himself was   separated from his family during this war.  I came to know Yahia early in the war about a year and a half ago when he shared with me the suffering in Gaza and his efforts to help others especially visiting the sick in hospitals and sharing what he had with children who were orphans and trying to find their missing parents. He rescued three children from the street who were separated from their parents and cared for them for most of the war.  He now tends to one of these  children (after finding the parents of the other two), and to an older couple Mahmoud and Sabah  who are in and out of the hospital and also visits and share what little he has with a child who fell three stories in Gaza after a bombing and fractured his skull. Yahia has a big heart and loves to help others. Having studied for his certificate for electrician before the war, Yahia after one of his many displacements wired electricity for his entire camp without charging anyone a dime. 

  Palestinians of Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering since the beginning of the war with explosions most nights, the never ending sounds of drones in the sky that spy and shoot often at random at anyone who moves, the massacres of people in their homes, and burned alive in their tents. At the time of this writing there is famine from  a total blockade for almost two months of all  food, fuel, water, medical supplies and electricity. Yahia is hungry, and thin and often goes without food for days partly so he can feed the child he cares for and the couple and has repeatedly gotten sick from cans of expired food. When he tries to carry water after waiting in long lines, it sprains his back that is already damaged from embedded shrapnel that has affected the discs.

   He hopes to be able to eat and have food enough for the child Ahmed he cares for who has been separated from his parents (who are now in Egypt after thinking their child was deceased) as well as the child in hospital with fractured skull and the older couple who earlier in the war he lived with whom he visits and assists.

   Gaza has become unlivable with 95% of homes destroyed including his as well as nearly all schools, and hospitals, all universities, the water and sewage infrastructure.Therefore, Yahia feels he has no other choice but to attempt to evacuate Gaza to go to another country in Europe to start a new life at least until Gaza becomes livable again.

  I urge you to do what you can to assist Yahia to keep him and those he supports and helps be free from starvation and pain and enable him to leave Gaza to start a new life and to reunite the child Ahmed he cares for with his parents. No donation is too small

   All funds from the campaign will be transferred to Yahia from my secure USA bank account to his secure PayPal.

Here is Yahia in his own words

  My name is Yahia Asfour, 20 years old  from Khan Yunis Gaza, Palestine. Before the war it was difficult but my family but we managed to survive despite the partial blockade of food items, fuel, electricity and internet for the past 18 years.   I was studying for my electronics certificate many hours a day and doing some sporadic work to support my family. The war came and like all universities and trade schools in Gaza mine was bombed as well as my home and with them many of my dreams.In the beginning of he war I was separated from my father and the middle of the war separated from my mother and siblings, which I guess is part of the reason it is important to me to havesense of family with children and help them reunite with their parents when I find them.

  This war has become unbearable now continuing almost 600 days with us barely eating and barely sleeping since the bombs fall most days leaving us in fear of when we will be next. I have always liked to share what I have and to help children. Thus  I  give what I can to orphans and skip meals to do so and I took children to  live with me until I could find their parents.After finding the parents of two, I moved in with older couple with the one teen child Ahmed whose parents moved to Egypt earlier in the war thinking he was dead. Then the older couple Mahmoud and Sabah kept getting sick and are still in and out of hospital. Then a neighbor of mine fell three stories after he was thrown on the roof by a bomb and fractured his skull. I want to continue to travel to the hospital to see him but it is difficult since I have nothing to offer now for food and medicine and none for myself and for the child I support. 

    No one knows what it is like for us in Gaza to see our friends and family bombed, maimed and burned and into pieces in front of our eyes day after day and night after night and to have to wait in lines for what little food is left from the total blockade of over two months and then come back empty handed and be hungry day after day and not be able to afford clothes, blankets, cleaners, a fan or heater or any of the necessities of life.

  Since everything is bombed and destroyed and we are now threatened with forced displacement to Africa, I prefer to do voluntary evacuation with the child I care for to reunite him with his parents and for me to start a new life in another country. I just want a life like other people have with dreams and goals. The occupation has taken everything from us but I want to keep my dreams and goals and I just want to survive and be free of hunger and help others as much as I can. Please help us survive this genocidal war and make our goals not just dreams but reality.

Here is the Budget for the Campaign

Survival in Gaza $ (500  per month for two months) for lentils, fish, noodles, milk, d flour, vegetables of tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, squash, canned goods and if available some greens, cooking oil, soap, sugar                                        

$1000

Medicines as needed for back injury and visits to doctor for two months $300

Cleaners including detergent, and soap for two months                              $60

Clothes for two months for self and child $300

Repair of tent with fabric, nails and wood (tears in rain and wind)              $200

Fan for tent                                                                                                     $50

Battery for charging                        $300

Rent of small one bedroom apartment in Egypt $ (500 per month

  For 3  months)                                                                                                      $1500                              

Survival in Egypt (600 per month)  until income can be secured via employment

or fish, chicken, lentils, rice, noodles, flour, vegetables of potatoes, carrots, greens, tomatoes, cooking oil, soap, shampoo and cleaning supplies                       $1800

Evacuation to Egypt with Egyptian Hala Company $5000 each for self and 2500 for teen child                                                                                                           $7500

Total                                                                                                                      $13,010