A plea for help
Christmas Day, I always make ravioli. There’s nothing more Christmasy than ravioli. This year though, I could tell that my guest would have preferred something else: lamb, chicken, beef, fish — anything that had meat in it. Meat is essential to a meal is logic that I appreciate, though I’m a vegetarian. The holiday wasn’t a big deal for him but he was alone and so were we, so we ate together, ravioli and all.
This guest, my friend, has been stuck in Canada since Oct. 7. With his house in rubble back in Gaza City, he’s been keeping my partner and I updated on where his family has been going to try and stay safe. His five kids, aged one year to 12 years, are suffering the effects of malnutrition. They’ve moved all over Gaza to try and find safety. Despite lots of help and support in Canada, including from some surprising places, there has been no progress made to get his family out. And I’m reminded that Israel has Gaza under siege, and they’re our ally and we support their right to do whatever they want.
So finally, we’ve realized that the time is now for his family to get out as fast as possible. We are raising money so his family can pay to leave to Egypt. That’s the only way out: you pay a sum per person and your name ends up on a list and then you wait till they tell you that you can leave.
The money will support our friend’s wife and kids, his mother and as many more family members as we can afford. It will also provide some money for an apartment in Egypt and plane tickets. They have a place to go in Egypt where they’ll wait and we’ll continue the lobbying work to get Canada to allow his family to join him.
Please consider donating. I’ll keep you all posted.
Thanks everyone, i'll be sharing updates as we go along this path. GoFundMe has paused the fundraiser while we answer questions to ensure it isn't fraudulent (I'm *very* glad to see that they're doing this and the questions are very detailed) and it should be back up soon.
Thank you for doing this. I've donated.