Taghreed Nasser (51) and her husband, Abdul Abu Arab (53), are deeply valued community members, parents, and grandparents surviving genocide in Gaza, Palestine. Their two eldest daughters are grown and married, but their youngest daughter, Rital, is just 10 years old; their son, Moumen, is newly married to Razan. This family has shared a tent for over a year, after bombs indiscriminately destroyed their entire neighborhood.
Before you read farther, the most important thing you must carry through this story is that Taghreed is a loving and deeply beloved community member. After raising her children, she went back to school and became a primary school teacher. She ran a kindergarten before the genocide, and she continued to do so after the fact.
Taghreed cannot stop at helping just her own family. Her Palestinian spirit and sense of community is boundless and loving. So, she began a primary school, serving over 70 children who have been unschooled in the throes of genocide, death, starvation, siege and loss for nearly two years. She decided nothing could stop her from giving the children of her community an excellent education.
Despite the horrors they face, this family loves and cherishes life. Moumen, who had been about to take a wife before the genocide began, lost his newly bought home and his job, and his university and IT program due to the destruction wrought by the occupation. A year in, he met the beuatiful Razan, who is six months pregnant with a son. Taghreed tells me Razan is often weak from the pregnancy, she will often become dizzy and fall. Taghreed writes, "Razan loves life and has hopes and dreams of having her child in her arms."
This fundraiser benefits Taghreed, Abdul, and their children and grandchildren.
Rital:
Taghreed's Story in her Own Words:
I used to live in a house that my husband and I built for us to live in. It was a beautiful house. My daughter, Rital, had a room to put her toys in. I built everything in my life myself by hard work, and my husband was with me. We were trying to work to provide a living. My education is very important to me, so I went back to school while raising my children. I worked very hard and saved my money to achieve success. My dream was to have a kindergarten and I bought all the toys and a property with effort and diligence, and providing what we needed for our family. After that, I worked more and more. I achieved my dream to open a bridal suit shop, in which there were more than two hundred dresses. I dreamed of growing the business and becoming significant, and after that I loved opening an ice cream shop for my son, Ahmed. My husband and I worked hard and fulfilled my son’s dream.
(The ice cream shop she opened for her son.)
(Rital earned a certificate for her good grades.)
"All this bombing, suddenly my home and the homes of my children became ashes. Our businesses were gone. There was nothing left. I was very sad, but I was happy that I, my husband, and my family survived. We suffered from this war a lot. We lost our dearest loved ones: my sister, my beloved; my brother, my heart, my predecessor, and my predecessor’s son are all gone underground."
(The rubble of their family home.)
"My body became weak and my appearance changed a lot. I became thin and emaciated. I am suffering from high blood pressure and pain in my back and hands from washing, dough, etc..
Rital, my youngest daughter, always tells me, 'I don’t want to die from missiles. I’m very afraid.' She always screams every night. She started urinating on herself, eating with her nails, nervous, and this is all a result of the war."
(Rital takes care of the cats near their shelter)
(Daily chores are painful and difficult for Rital, who should be in school.)
"I swear, we are hungry. We cannot buy food. We eat hospice food. Our lives are unsafe. Bullets fly over our heads. We put up a curtain of sand to take shelter in it. Our tent is torn apart. I think about how the rain will come while we are like this."
(Their tent does not have a suitable roof for the rainy season)
Taghreed writes: "I want donors to help me provide food and a safe place to live in the rain. I hope they will help us get out of Gaza and save my children from death.
We are very tired and the war has lasted every day. I cry for our lives. What will we do? My husband cannot buy what we need. Our dreams are lost. I swear, we have nothing to live on. I want to save my family and provide what they need. I hope not to lose my children and my family. Please help me.
First, I will meet my family’s basic needs, such as food and clothing, and buy a tent to live in so that we can protect ourselves from the rain and the cold. After that, I will travel to another country with my family. I will start again to build a house for me and my family and work on a project for me and my children to achieve everything we lost."
Please hear this beautiful grandmother's plea and donate to her family. We are the ones who help keep hope alive. We are the ones who can be the difference for her and her family.
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About the organizer:
My name is Kelsey. I am a young mother of two children, one living and one passed. I have known the Nasser/Abu Arab family for nearly two years now, and over that time we have developed a deep companionship and strong trust. I am in regular contact with Tagreed and her two adult daughters, who I also fundraise for. I believe in the interconnectedness of our humanity. I believe that we can build a better world when we invest in each other, support each other, and live under the belief that everyone deserves their basic needs met.
I can provide receipts of delivery for all donations paid to the family family upon request. My authenticity and proof that absolutely every cent reaches this family is my deepest responsibility, because your donations have saved and protected this family several times over.
