Seventeen year old Malak Salama wakes up every morning with the same question. Not what day it is. Not whether school might reopen. Not whether the world is paying attention. The question is always the same. Will there be food today.
She lives in Gaza with her adoptive parents, the only parents she has ever known. They are three people trapped inside a famine that has taken over their lives piece by piece. Before the war, they lived simply. They had meals. They had routines. They had dignity. Now their days are shaped by hunger, and their nights are shaped by fear.
Her father, Salama Suleiman Al Deirawi, is 48. He used to stand behind a small street stall, selling whatever he could to keep the family afloat. Today he can barely stand at all. The pain in his legs is constant. Walking for more than an hour leaves him unable to move. He needs joint replacement surgery, but in Gaza, even basic pain medication is almost impossible to find. He takes whatever scraps of medicine he can get, just to dull the pain enough to shuffle through their damaged home.
Her mother, Fadwa Ismail Al Deirawi, is 40. She breathes through damaged sinuses and lungs. The smoke from cooking fires has filled her body with a heaviness she cannot shake. There is no gas. There is no clean air. She wakes up coughing and goes to sleep coughing. She tries to hide it from Malak, but the sound fills the house like a reminder that even breathing has become a struggle.
Their electricity is gone. Their water is barely safe to drink. Their home is damaged. They have not seen flour in more than four months. They survive on lentils and a few cans of peas. Some days, even that runs out. Aid does not reach them. Not from UNRWA. Not from anyone. They are alone inside a famine that grows sharper every week.
The hunger has become so overwhelming that Malak once posted a message online. It was not crafted or edited. It was not a performance. It was the voice of a starving child who had run out of strength.
This is not a metaphor. This is not a symbol. This is a real girl who has gone to bed hungry so many nights that her voice has collapsed into repetition. Hunger has stripped her language down to its bones.
Her father speaks quietly about their life now.
“We are humiliated just to find a bite of food. Famine has crushed us. We live like shadows in our own home.”
Some schools have reopened, but Malak cannot return. A starving child cannot study. A starving family cannot afford notebooks or transportation. Hunger has stolen her education as surely as the war stole her safety.
She wants to learn again. She wants to see clearly again. She wants to grow up. But none of that is possible without food. Her dreams are waiting for a meal that never comes.
For anyone who wants to reach out to her directly, Malak shares updates on Twitter at @Malak26Salama. Her voice there is unfiltered, immediate, and painfully real.
This family is not asking for comfort. They are asking for survival. A bag of flour. A few cans of food. Medicine for pain. Enough stability for Malak to return to school when her body is no longer starving.
Every contribution becomes a meal. Every share becomes a chance for someone else to help. Every act of generosity becomes a lifeline.
Malak’s plea is simple.
Please help us eat.
Donate and share:
https://chuffed.org/project/malaksalma
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https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6942/Israeli-bulldozer-crushing-of-a-wounded-child-exemplifies-horrific-killing-pattern-in-Gaza
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