Before, we built a life with our hands. Now we're trying to keep it.
My name is Ali Tayeh. I'm a visual artist from Gaza, and Misk's father. My wife, Israa, is an artist too — before the war, our work was how we fed our daughter, paid our rent, and built the kind of life we were proud of. I had clients here and abroad. Israa had her own projects running alongside mine. We were, by any measure, a working family.
"I'm not writing this for sympathy. I'm writing it because it may be the only thing standing between my family and losing everything."
That life is gone. Our home was destroyed. The income went with it. What's left is survival, day by day, and a tent that is now the only roof over Misk's head.
Nine displacements
We have been forced to flee nine times since the war began. Each move costs between €1,000 and €1,500 — transport, a place to sleep, water, food for the days it takes to resettle somewhere new, only to be forced out again. So far, displacement alone has cost us roughly €12,000.
A home we can't finish rebuilding
Between displacements, I've tried to repair what's left of our house. We've put €16,000 into it — and still haven't been able to complete the work, because the blockade, the shortages, and the prices keep changing the ground under us. Every time we get close, we're displaced again and have to start over.
What it costs just to stay alive
Food and water for our family run about €900 a month, plus €110 a month for non-drinking water we use to wash and clean. We bought a tent for €700 and pay €200 a month to rent the ground it sits on. Each displacement means building a temporary bathroom again, at roughly €1,100 each time.
Misk, and my own health
I was diagnosed with Hepatitis A, which needs ongoing treatment we can barely afford. Misk — just over a year old — was diagnosed with malnutrition at a UN health center. Diapers and infant food are both harder to find and more expensive every month. Keeping her fed and well is, right now, the hardest job I've ever had.
Why we're also raising for evacuation
Part of this goal covers the cost of leaving Gaza for Egypt if and when the border allows it — €10,000 per adult and €7,800 for Misk, arranged through the same registration process my uncle in Egypt used when his family was evacuated. We're not asking for this instead of rebuilding — we're asking for both, because we don't know which door will open first.