Help Khalil, from Gaza, to achieve his dream to fund his master’s degree

Update:

Almost half of the needed money has been provided. I am one month away from completing the first year of my Master. Unfortunately, the ongoing aggression on Gaza has accumulated the economic crisis and led to more difficulties in completing it. It is no secret that these massacres on Gaza have also affected the aspects of life, and destroyed the infrastructure. My university and house were also affected. This saddens me but also lights up my long way to freedom.

Let us continue and provide the second half. It is not impossible, you can help achieve this dream. Maybe this is not even a dream for most of you, maybe this is easy for you but not for me in the largest open air prison on earth (Gaza). Every amount changes the course of this dream.

Date of update (20th May 2021).

Here is the original text:

My name is Khalil, and I grew up in the Gaza Strip. My life in Gaza is defined by the illegal Israeli blockade, and the violence and oppression it has brought into my life and the lives of my loved ones.

Living through war means suffering through bombing and its consequent trauma. Living through peace means having my right of movement restricted, which makes it immensely difficult to achieve anything I plan or dream of doing. However, I’ve always kept dreaming of a better future for myself and my people.

Education and learning are the pillars on which I built my morals. So far, this pillar has survived even the cruelties of the Gaza blockade.

In 2018, I was accepted to a Master’s program at the SOAS University in London. However, I could not attend because of an Israeli siege on Gaza. My dream to meet the city of London in person collapsed.

In 2019: I was accepted to a Master’s program at the University of Johannesburg. I could not attend due to a drastic blow in my health.

In October 2019, I received a diagnosis that changed my life forever. I was diagnosed with Epithelioid haemangioma cancer, which is a very rare kind of cancer. It took us two and a half years to discover this because we do not have a proper health system in Gaza.

Due to lack of medical equipment in the Gaza Strip, I embarked on a gruelling bureaucratic journey in order to be referred to an East Jerusalem hospital. What should have been a journey of two hours from Gaza to Jerusalem ultimately took me 45 days, all the while the cancer was spreading throughout my body. This lengthy and terrible struggle to access medical care was due to Israeli rule and the draconian bureaucracy it imposes upon the residents of Gaza.

In the end, I underwent three dangerous surgeries and surprisingly “came back to life”, as my doctors said.

Since my recovery, I have not stopped trying to pursue my dream of studying Literary and Cultural Studies, but leaving the besieged Gaza Strip has proved impossible for me. Even with all the obstacles in my way, I refuse to give up.

Unfortunately, The tumor came back to me as I was diagnoised in June/2020. I could not go to Jerusalem again to get my treatment because of the Israeli siege on Gaza. This means that I am dying slowly.

I want to overcome the siege and continue my studies. I wanted to study Post-Colonial and Cultural Studies but so far have had no chance to do so. I thought about bringing the world into the heart of Gaza.

Now, I have an offer from the Islamic university of Gaza to study a Master in "Translation Studies".

It costs 6500$

It is because I am living in Palestine- the Gaza Strip that I am highly motivated to study, understand, think critically, and try to take part in challenging oppressive regimes. I have been a human rights activist for more than seven years. I am the coordinator of many cultural activities such as the online concerts that we did in France and South Africa, I have also participated in many groups such as Return Solidarity. I was a leading figure in students' activism throughout my years as a student.

I thank all amazing people who made my dream come true. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Lets continue and achieve the dream, lets do it.