When Survival Becomes the Only Routine
A broken man, a pregnant wife, a sick child — and the long walk for water.
Have you ever seen a broken man? I mean, truly broken.
Yet somehow he’s still managing to put one foot in front of the other, driven forward by desperate need. Step by step. Each one slower than the last. His feet know the destination so well he doesn’t even have to think about it — or think about anything else. Which is probably just as well.
This is Ahmed Atiya Saleh Al‑Fayoumi, and he is that man walking on autopilot.
He is that man who walks every day. Not carefree or happy walks. Not exercise walks. Not taking‑in‑the‑joys‑of‑nature walks.
He walks for water. His arms don’t swing as he walks. They can’t. They’re weighed down with heavy containers of water. His arms hang as heavy as his mind.
Everything about him looks broken. He has nothing left but daily suffering and an instinctive drive to provide for his family. And so this propels him forward.
He has no money. He has no phone. He has no campaign.
What he does have is a little daughter who underwent surgery at a year and a half for malnutrition. What he does have is a pregnant wife. What he does have is the weight of the world on his shoulders and the weight of daily water containers on his arms as he walks maybe a kilometre every day.
Well — except for the days Gaza’s Forgotten Families can afford to send a water truck to his neighbourhood. On those days, he gets a bit of a break.
Listen to what he says about his daily grind to find water. Look at where he lives. Look at the faces of his family. There is almost no life left in their eyes. They can’t take much more of this.
This man had two houses and a large piece of land. All of that has been taken from him. Now all he has left are pieces of torn material over his family’s heads and his precious water containers.
Your donations help us help him and others like him.
https://chuffed.org/project/183781-gaza-forgotten-families-fund
