My Children Are Dying - A Mother's Desperate Cry for Help From Gaza
My name is Nahid, and I never imagined I would be writing these words. At 35, I should be worrying about school pickups and bedtime stories, not whether my children will have food tomorrow.
Every day I wake up with the fear that one of my babies will survive his next seizure without proper medical care, which we cannot afford.
We are a family of six, crammed into a single room at my relative's house in Gaza. My husband, 38, and I are doing everything humanly possible to keep our four children alive in circumstances that no parent should ever face. War has stolen our home, our security, and our dignity, but it will not take our hope.
[IMAGE: The single room where the family of six now lives - showing the cramped conditions with basic belongings and makeshift sleeping arrangements]
Carmen and Melia are seven years old—twin girls who should be laughing on playgrounds and learning to read. Instead, Carmen has taken on the heartbreaking responsibility of collecting paper to sell so we can buy food. I watch my seven-year-old daughter dig through scraps, her small hands working to keep her family fed, and my heart breaks a thousand times over. She desperately needs new eyeglasses to see clearly and a hearing test with ear treatment, but these basic medical needs feel like impossible luxuries now.
Both girls need to stay in school – it costs us 360 shekels each month for their fees, but education is their lifeline to a future beyond this nightmare. Every month, I face the impossible choice between keeping them in school and buying food. How do you choose between your child's future and their next meal?
Then there are my five-month-old twins, Ameen and Youssef. Babies should be cooing and discovering the world around them. Instead, little Ameen suffers from seizures that terrify me every single day. He needs monthly neurological treatment and medication that we cannot afford. I hold him during his episodes, feeling completely helpless as his tiny body convulses, knowing that proper medical care could prevent this suffering.
Both babies need Stage 1 formula and Size 3 diapers – necessities that have become precious commodities. When you're living day to day, even a clean diaper feels like a blessing.
The hunger is constant. It gnaws at all of us, but watching your children's faces grow thin, seeing them ask for food you don't have – this is a pain no parent should endure. We have been reduced to searching through garbage for anything edible. The shame of this reality burns, but when your children are hungry, pride becomes a luxury you cannot afford.
Every morning, I wake up in our single room and count six heartbeats – my husband's steady breathing, Carmen and Melia curled together, the soft sighs of the twins. These sounds remind me why I must keep fighting, why I must swallow my pride and ask for help.
We need baby formula for the babies, medicine for Ameen's seizures, school fees so the girls don't lose their chance at education, and basic food to keep us alive. We need clean clothes and the simple dignity of not having to search through waste for our next meal.
Your donation, no matter how small, can give my children what every child deserves: a meal, access to healthcare, and
the chance to learn and grow. It can mean the difference between my daughter collecting paper on the streets and sitting safely in a classroom. It can mean proper medicine for my baby's seizures instead of watching helplessly as he suffers.
We are living day by day, breath by breath. But we are still here, still fighting, still believing that kindness exists in this world. Your support would not just help us survive – it would restore our faith that we are not forgotten, that our children's lives matter, that somewhere beyond these walls, people care about a mother in Gaza trying to keep her family alive.
Please, help us survive. Help my children see tomorrow.
Nahid’s Chuffed Campaign: https://chuffed.org/project/nahidabuaida
Connect with Nahid on Twitter: https://x.com/NahidabuAida
 | A guest post by
|