Help Palestinian Desperate Person to Survive

My name is Mahmoud al-Dalo. I am 26 years old. I am from Palestine, Gaza Strip. And here’s my story:

In besieged Gaza, my life was totally miserable. My house was a target for the Israeli warplanes three times. I was almost homeless.

I did not know what to do. I thought of leaving Gaza a lot. At the very beginning, I could not even afford the cost of booking a ticket to leave Gaza. Even if I had some money to flee, it was impossible to leave Gaza due to the permanent closure of Rafah crossing, the only way out of Gaza.

I reached a stage where I knew that nothing else left to do except for doing everything possible to save some money to help me leave Gaza and start rebuilding what is remaining of my miserable life.

As I am a hardworking person, I worked everywhere. I volunteered at local organisations and I accepted any job that would pay me a salary of 100$ per month.

Meanwhile, I asked every official I met, whether in Egypt or Gaza, of the cost of leaving Gaza. It is worth mentioning that at that time, to leave Gaza you need to pay what is called “a security coordination” which usually costs $300-$1,000 USD.

After several months of hardworking, I managed to save some amount of money that would help me reach the destination country, which later became Turkey, safely with a few dollars in my pocket.

Everything worked well and I arrived in Turkey.

AND here is me now after one year in Turkey desperate, barely managing to get paid to survive. I sometimes spend days with nothing to eat.

One year was enough to raise my awareness about how mistaken I was of taking that bold decision of leaving my homeland.

I miss my homeland a lot. And I dream every day of going back to meet my family and friends. Even if coming back to my hometown would mean more misery, I will accept that, knowing the fact that Gaza’s misery is way better than a foreign country’s misery.

What is really important for me now is not to go back empty-handed.

That is why I decided to launch this fundraising campaign, hoping that I can raise some funds to pave the way for me to reach Gaza and start a small business there, through which I can survive.

I am tired of this life. I love my family and friends. And I really want to go back to them. I also have a girl there. I love her and I want to marry her in Gaza.

I want to start my life again there, raising a family and seeing my children being raised in my ever-bleeding besieged Gaza and not anywhere else. Just Gaza.

Please help me by making a donation of whatever you could afford. This will mean the world to me and I will be forever grateful.

Kindest and warmest regards,

Mahmoud al-Dalou.