Fixing One Car in Gaza Isn’t “Extra” — It’s Survival
If we say we want Palestinians to be self‑sufficient, then this is exactly the kind of case we step up for.
You know how everyone in the pro‑Palestine camp keeps saying the same thing: we want families in Gaza to be able to stand on their own feet, not beg the world for every meal, every bottle of water, every basic need. We talk about dignity. We talk about independence. We talk about helping people rebuild their lives instead of living on handouts forever.
Well, here’s a real, concrete situation where that talk actually means something.
Her name is Maryam.
She’s 17. She lives in Gaza with a family of ten. Before October 7, she was a tenth‑grade student living a normal, calm life. She also has a serious medical history — in 2019 she had major surgery in Jordan on her left ear because decay had reached the bones of her skull. They rebuilt her eardrum and her ossicles. She needed follow‑ups every three months. Now, with the nonstop bombing, her ears are in constant pain again.
But this isn’t a “feel sorry for her” story.
This is a family trying to survive with dignity.
Before the war, her father worked nonstop to provide for them. Their car was their livelihood. It was their taxi service, their income, their stability. It’s how they paid for food, water, and medicine for Maryam and her sister.
Then during displacement, her father was in a brutal accident. A speeding car flew over his vehicle and crushed it. The passengers with him were hospitalized with serious injuries. He survived, but the car — the family’s only source of income — was destroyed.
Now they’re stuck.
Not because they’re lazy.
Not because they’re waiting for handouts.
But because the one tool they had to support themselves is gone. And in Gaza right now, repairing a car engine costs a fortune — spare parts are scarce, merchants are exploiting the situation, and everything is inflated beyond reason.
Here’s the part some people might push back on:
“Why should we donate to fix a car when people need food and water?”
Because this car is how they get food and water.
This car is how they survive.
This car is how they stop depending on the world for every single thing.
Fixing this car means one family off the endless list of families who need constant aid. One family able to earn again. One family able to stand with dignity instead of begging for every meal.
I’ll be honest: I don’t know if we can raise the full amount. It’s a lot. It’s more than the usual emergency asks. And people tend to donate faster when the need looks like immediate survival — food, water, medicine, tents.
But this is survival.
Just in a different form.
This is long‑term survival.
This is what it looks like to lift a family up instead of keeping them stuck in crisis mode forever.
And I hope I’m proven wrong about the difficulty. I hope people see the value in helping a family rebuild their independence. I hope people understand that dignity is also a form of aid — and that giving someone the ability to work again is one of the strongest acts of solidarity we can offer.
If you’re able to donate, please do.
If you can’t, sharing matters just as much. Sharing is how these families get seen. Sharing is how the word spreads. Sharing is how help reaches them.
Every bit from every corner of the world adds up.
And together, we can get this done.
One family, back on their feet. One family able to stand with dignity again.
Fundraiser link:
https://chuffed.org/project/maryamcar
Idk if most people in the world...living their cushioned lives, would survive a day in Gaza
So easy for us to judge. Couldn’t imagine a day in their lives never mind years and decades of it.