*NavigatingTheRuinsOfOurLife

Before you begin reading the following copy and paste paragrahs from Aseel Harara, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read Aseel's words, her experiences after the events of Oct 7th and considering the imapct these events have had on, not only her life, but the lives of her family. 

My name is Kelly Reyes Rivera, based in San Jose, California and I am advocating for Aseel's family who are struggling to survive in occupied Palestine. Please continue reading to learn more about Aseel and her story. Thank you.

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My name is Aseel Harara, and I find myself in a strange situation writing this and asking for your help.

My family consists of 3 people: myself, my husband, and my daughter. We used to live an ideal life, having our own house, car, my husband's job, and I was continuing my university studies and graduated one month before the war Business Administration major in English .

Unfortunately, I couldn't celebrate my graduation as my new life began post-graduation. Our little daughter, named Aysel, used to dream of the day she would go to kindergarten when she was 3 years old. The war came and took away her dream of going to kindergarten, where she used to sing about the sweet kindergarten daily. Today, we are here, and unfortunately, she couldn't attend kindergarten because of the cursed war on the 7th of October. Everything changed on the 7th of October; life changed within days of the tragedy.

We were forced to flee our home, and we only had the clothes on our backs. We headed south, as the army advised, and we had a newly built house to seek shelter in. On the 9th of October, we learned that our house had been destroyed and bombed by the occupation.

Every day, things worsened; the sounds of shelling increased, and I saw fear in my daughter's eyes. She would ask me about the sounds, and I would calm her by saying they were fireworks lighting up the sky. But as she grew older, she understood that the war was due to the occupation, and the sounds were houses being bombed. She started to fear and run to me when the bombing occurred due to the loud noise, and running away from one place to another.

Every night, my little one would ask me if her toys were still there, if her dresses were still there, especially her beloved white dress. I would remain silent for a moment, tears streaming down my face, and tell her that we would return home soon, by the will of God. I didn't tell her that our house had been destroyed, her room and toys demolished, and nothing was left.

The suffering didn't end; gas ran out, we cooked food over a firewood, washed clothes by hand causing our hands to become rough and inflamed from detergent and scrubbing. On the 4th of January, we couldn't sleep due to the intense bombing, shelling, and tank sounds. A special forces unit had raided our [shelter], and miraculously, we escaped death, fleeing under bombardment and gunfire, with only the clothes we wore. We didn't grab anything; we just wanted to survive. We said after a few days we would return, [that] the situation would calm down and the army would withdraw.

On the ninth of January, we learned that the building had been blown up and demolished, the work stores (warehouses) had been destroyed, and all the goods had been burned, and nothing remained. 

We rented a house in Deir al-Balah that was supposed to be a safe place to go, and we stayed there for 3 months before we had to run for our lives for the third time, but this time without any notice or warning.

The upper apartment on the floor that we rented was targeted, and it was 12 o’clock at night. We do not know where the strike was, how or by whom it struck us. It was the quadcopter that entered the room and targeted what was in it, which also led to the destruction of our car that was located under the house from fragments and rubble, leaving us with nothing, a night full of fear. In horror, we did not know where to go, so we went to land in Al-Zawaida

We ended up living in a tent in Zawayda, enduring cold nights, lack of food, and clean water. We suffered from diseases due to poor sanitation and faced a significant increase in the prices of essentials. The apartment was targeted on the 9th of April as well.

Are these dates a curse or what are they?

During these times, all we wished for was for the suffering to end and to return to our home, but we saw video footage of all the streets in Gaza being destroyed. Our house was partially destroyed, along with all our belongings - clothes, furniture, appliances, and worst of all, all our memories. We had nowhere to return to: my family's house, my husband's family's house, the source of livelihood, and the building and houses of my sisters were all gone.

Even worse, my daughter Aisal fell ill; she always had a high fever, along with a cold, cough, and diarrhea due to the lack of hot water for bathing, electricity, or gas.

Heating was done over firewood, providing only warmth. Because of the war and siege, the lack of healthy food made her refuse to eat, wanting eggs and milk for breakfast as she used to have at home, causing her teeth to break and decay, leading to severe pain. The past few months have been filled with fear, evacuations, and the deaths of most of our family and friends. Apart from our homes being destroyed, the loss of hope, and the complete destruction of any happy memories we had. We never imagined that our beautiful future would become a living nightmare. We are a proud people, and now we are trying to survive in the worst conditions. Asking for help is not easy at all, but we have no choice but to turn to you and ask for help in escaping this horror. Your support could mean the difference between life and death for my family, especially with the violent attack on Rafah; there is no safe place left After targeting the tents, nothing remained safe.

 We are extremely grateful for any help you can provide to my family, and we thank you for your kindness and generosity during our time of need. We, as a family, will forever be grateful for your generous support during this extremely difficult period. Our goal is to meet our basic needs in Gaza and raise enough funds to escape this suffering. We sincerely hope that those who contribute, even a little, will be blessed forever. We express our deep gratitude and will always remember your kindness.