Fundraising lead by Ly Nguyễn
Supported by Vănguard LLC
contributors
Anthony Le / Antonius-Tín Bui / Bùi Hà Anh / cát nguyên / Châu / Danthanh Trinh / Hoài-Phương Jun Lê / Khanh Aiden Nguyễn / Kim Sandara / Lê Yến / Ly Nguyễn / Matte Kirwin / Natalie Bui Nguyễn Vũ Trụ / Nu / Oliver Vy Le Nguyễn / Phương Anh / Racoon 'Tilu' / Súp Cua Trứng Cút Thế An / Theresa-Xuan Bui / Thomas Tran / Tiffany Le / Vy Vu / Y-Bình Nguyễn
Việtnamese Artists Stand in Solidarity with Palestine
Việtnamese Artists Stand in Solidarity with Palestine
Launched on April 2, 2024, Viet Artists for Palestine, led by Ly Nguyễn, Khanh Aiden Nguyễn, and over 25 Vietnamese artists, is an ongoing initiative aimed at aiding the survival and evacuation of 7 members from three generations of the Alshaikhkhalil family. This urgent response addresses the life-threatening crisis faced by countless Palestinians, including the 1.5 million currently trapped in Rafah, Gaza's southern region. Since the outbreak of war in October 2023, the Alshaikhkhalil family has endured relentless bombardment, forcing them further south as their shelters are destroyed one by one. Now, living in tents scattered across Rafah, they reached out to us to help them evacuate to Cairo, Egypt. Our goal is to raise $35,000 urgently to cover evacuation costs ($5,000 per adult, $2,500 per child). Please stand with us in supporting their journey by sharing and donating to the campaign.
🌹UPDATE (May 31, 2024): We are grateful to announce that we have reached our fundraising goal. Please watch our video below for brief reflections and next steps.
Thank you to the 200+ people who contributed!!!
Fundraiser Progress & Updates
The Alshaikhkhalil Family
Mai, Akram, Mila, Shahad, Ahmed, Inam & Dina
The 7 people that we are supporting are three generations of the Alshaikhkhalil family: Inam (mother), Mai & Ahmed (siblings), Akram (Mai’s husband), baby Mila (Mai’s daughter), Shahad (Ahmed’s wife), and Dina (a distant relative who is left alone in Rafah, separated from her parents and siblings who was stranded in the Northern Gaza). Their homes were in different parts of Gaza city, but after the series of military aggressions that targeted civilian homes in Gaza City and spaces of shelters such as hospitals and refugee camps, eventually they all found themselves stranded in different parts of the tent city in Rafah, the most Southern part of Gaza, sheltering apart from one another. Unable to return to their destroyed homes and without funds to evacuate via the Rafah Crossing to Egypt, the 3 young women in the family separately reached out to us to ask for help on March 14.
Now, their situation has become increasingly dangerous: Israel has been conducting air raids over Rafah in the weeks leading up to the end of April in preparation for a ground invasion. The refugees sheltering in Rafah have been instructed to evacuate further away from the border, 7 kilometers away toward Al-Mawasi. When the impending ground invasion starts, Rafah Crossing might be closed.
Inam, the family's elderly matriarch, suffers from a heart condition, while Mai's toddler, Mila, just turned two. Tragically, Abeer, one of Inam's daughters, and her two children lost their lives earlier in the conflict. Amidst this turmoil, the family struggles to mourn their losses.
This isn't the full extent of their plight. Others remain stranded in Northern Gaza or scattered throughout Rafah. We're also in touch with three brothers outside Gaza, Yousef, Mohammad, and Younis, who are preparing for their family's evacuation with our support.
Their urgency is clear. We must act swiftly to ensure their safety.
Just two days before the war, Mai, Akram and baby Mila had just moved from the one room they lived in for two years into the Ghada building on Al naser street, western Gaza City. The apartment they bought with installments had brand new furniture, a spacious refrigerator, and a neat kitchen. It had cost them $50,000—an incredible amount of money in Gaza, an impoverished territory under siege for the last 17 years, where the average daily wage is $13. Mai and Akram, a 26 year old secretary and a 32 year old English teacher, have worked days and nights to afford this apartment, so that their 2 year old daughter Mila can have a home to grow up in. On October 9, the building was bombed to pieces.
“I just want Mila to be safe. We can’t survive this place.”
Forced to flee with only the summer clothes on their backs, they found temporary shelter in Al Nuseirat refugee camp, where food and water were scarce due to restricted aid. Evacuation orders forced them further south to Rafah, where they now share a cramped room with 14 others, lacking even basic necessities like shoes. “We don’t even have flip flops, Mila only has one shoe. I am so ashamed, but I didn’t know how to ask.” Mai shamefully shared with us, five weeks into our daily conversation. “I just want Mila to be safe. We can’t survive this place.” Mai, Akram, and Mila desperately need our help to cover their $12,500 evacuation fees.
Shahad and Ahmed are a newly-wed couple in their mid-20s who once had a beautiful home in Al Rimal, the most prosperous neighborhood on the coastline only 3 kms from Gaza city center. Living together with their cats, their home was nicely decorated with a fireplace and a rooftop swing, a place for their larger family to visit and stay from time to time. Ahmed used to work at a nylon factory.
Just like his sibling’s story, all of this changed when Israel retaliated with lethal destruction on civilian homes. By October 11th, the bombing had wiped out Al Rima neighborhood. A bomb had torn right through the middle of their house. Shahad and Admed lost their home and job, evacuated to the Al Shifa hospital, the biggest medical complex of Gaza, a military target in a war that sought to destabilize Gazan society. Ahmed, Shahad, her mother and her brother Kreem came to shelter at Al Shifa until they were bombed inside and had to flee to Nuseirat, at their relatives’ house for a month, shortly after which they were displaced to Rafah. It wasn’t until we sent them some funds that the young couple was able to afford a tent. Before that, Ahmed was wandering and sleeping wherever he could. Now, his sick mother Enam is with him. Shahad, with an Egyptian birth certificate, secured a shorter waiting time for evacuation after paying the fee she received from us. Once she is safely in evacuated, she will help sponsor Enam out first, then Ahmed, when we are able to raise all the funds. We are raising $10,000 for Ahmed and Enam's evacuation.
Dina is a 27-year-old woman from Gaza, the first family member to receive funds from us to cover a portion of her evacuation fee because of her dangerous situation as a lone young woman stranded in Rafah, without food or a place to stay. Unfortunately, her first option for evacuation fell through, and now she’s back at raising more to evacuate via Ya Hala company. Her parents and siblings are still stuck in the North, and the aunt who fled with her from Khan Yunis to Rafah was only able to afford her own family’s evacuation to Egypt.
Dina is not able to reunite with her family because the occupation army is stationed in the middle, killing people who try to cross.
In the beginning, Dina’s family received evacuation order and had to leave their house on Al naser Street. Three days into the war, they evacuated to Al-Shifa Hospital. The 5 of them had stayed there for a month. In November when Israel raided the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, throwing phosphorus shells and opening fire on civilians, Dina lost her family members in the midst of chaos. Forced to flee, Dina joined the mass of people walking on foot to the south of Wadi Gaza, the central area of the UNRWA shelter schools. She stayed there alone for a while then left again to find her aunt in Khan Yunis city. Here she was able to communicate with her family, but unfortunately they still are not able to reunite. In January, Israel invaded Khan Yunis. Dina and her aunt’s family fled once again to Rafah city but had to stay on the street, and only after a long time did they get a small tent. When her aunt’s family was able to gather enough money to leave, Dina was the only one left behind.
Donors who contribute $100 or more will receive one of 200 limited edition art packages containing artwork from Vietnamese artists in support of Palestine.