Supporting Laila: How Your September Purchases Help a Gaza Mother Celebrate Her Son's First Birthday
September 1-7: 30% of all proceeds from sales on my website will go to Laila's family and @humanstobe
This week, every purchase you make from my website directly supports a remarkable young mother in Gaza and her grassroots project Humans To Be that provides respite for the mental health for traumatised children of Gaza.
Meet Laila
Laila Ezzat Al Shana- July 2024 in our first video call
For fifteen months, I've been quietly supporting a young mother in Gaza through my personal social media. Increasingly, I have begun sharing on my business pages and now here on my website because quiet support needs to be much louder. Some of you may or may not agree. I’m cool with that. This is something I have to do. It will be a huge bonus if you are willing to be part of it.
At 22, Laila is everything I wasn't at her age. She is a mother of two: Ismael (3) and Ibrahim, who turns one at the end of September. Her husband, Mohammed, disabled since a 2014 bombing, cannot walk without crutches. Laila is her family's main provider while furthering her university studies in English online and running @humanstobe, a mental health project for Gaza's war traumatised children that she founded with the backing of her two sisters, Haneen and Noor, and her mother who help out with activities, cooking and games.
Laila introduced herself to me when she was in the final trimester of her pregnancy with Ibrahim. At that stage, facing evacuation orders and subsequent displacements, her pregnancy was fraught with complications. When she finally went into labour, she gave birth under bombardment with no pain relief. Just imagine!
A week later, having returned to her damaged family home in Deir Al Balah, a missile exploded in their living room just minutes after Laila had left the room with Ishmael and Ibrahim. Having such a close escape from death, the family were displaced again to Khan Younis.
Laila and Ibrahim - September 2024
Baby Ibrahim
Having such a close escape from death, the family were displaced again to Khan Younis. Every displacement is a physical and financial disaster. With Mohammed unable to carry anything due to his disability, Laila must carry two very young children plus whatever she can manage alone (under bombardment and sniper fire). They have been displaced muliple times since then and every time the costs escalate. In the past they have paid for transport but fuel is now impossible to obtain—the few donkey carts available cost even more, if one can be secured. The next displacement, which is inevitable, will mean abandoning everything: pots, pans, food, medicine, bedding, clothing. If they can find a tent and space for it, it currently costs at least US$2000—the reality her sister Haneen faces now, living in a tent in Khan Younis.
Amid apocalyptic destruction
Mohammed, Laila’s mother, Laila, Noor and Haneen in a UN school (since destroyed) in Khan Younis
Shortly after Laila’s relocation to the UN school in Khan Younis, she came up with the idea of creating a project called Humans To Be. Surrounded by children affected by severe trauma—some who had lost one or both parents or siblings, had been injured, dug out of flattened buildings, and witnessed things no child should see—Laila wanted to provide a space for them to be children again. Through play, dance, and song, she sought to create joyful moments that could foster a small modicum of healing, empowering the children to overcome adversity and believe in their dreams. Thus, Humans To Be, a grassroots initiative led by women with the support of her mother and sisters, Haneen and Noor, was born. Together, they strive to honour children’s rights by providing entertainment, educational support, and basic necessities such as food and clothing. By ensuring safety and creating engaging spaces for play and healing, they aim to inspire hope and community, giving every child the chance to experience joy regardless of their circumstances. Humans To Be exists to show the children of Gaza that they are humans to be loved, entitled to the right of simply being.
Last week Laila raised funds for was a three-day summer camp for 30-40 children. Previously, she also gathered much needed funds at short notice to buy infant formula when a small amount was allowed through the Israeli blockade. She also organised a one-day event for women and their children experiencing domestic violence.
Laila at a Human’s To Be event
Haneen and Mera at a Human’s To Be event
Laila’s Mum at a Human’s To Be event
The Reality Laila’s Family Face
Laila lost her grandfather and three cousins last year in an IOF missile strike in the street near the school. Two weeks ago the family lost two more cousins, two children aged 13 and 14. They were shot in the head by the IOF at one of the Gaza 'Humanitarian' Foundation sites while trying to obtain food. These are the family members I know about.
Every trip, whether in the markets when they have supplies, or at the GHF sites, could be their last. Day or night, life can end in extreme violence. And then there is the slow violence of deliberate starvation that hovers at the edges every single day. Laila is exhausted, her boys are sick, and still she finds the where-with-all to continue with her studies; she continues building international community support through her social media platforms; she continues to hope for a better future for herself and Gaza's children, including her own. As a result of her tenacious efforts online, she has been interviewed by the BBC World Service, and Al Jazeera on several occasions. her sister Haneen has been interviewed on Australia's ABC News, and yesterday Laila was interviewed on a podcast to raise international awareness.
She is made of steel, forged by the fact that she has grown up and through various wars since she was born. They are:
2008 when she was 6 years old
2012 when she was 10 years old
2014 when she was 12 years old
2019 when she was 19 years old
2022 when she was 20 years old
2023 when she was 21 years old.
She never had any other choice.
This is what genocide looks like in Gaza: a brilliant young mother who should only be concerned with how to juggle childcare with university deadlines, is instead figuring out how to raise enough money to buy food, then find food, clean water, fuel to cook and medicine. She has to fit her studies around building a fire for cooking, keeping their home clean while organising summer camps for 30-40 children, sourcing food, new clothing, and art materials for the activities that bring small moments of joy to them. When baby formula disappeared from Gaza, and then meager supplies returned at astronomical prices, she managed to raise enough funds to buy formula for mothers in her community through her @humanstobe project.
Ibrahim Will Soon Turn One
Beautiful Ibrahim
Ibrahim will soon turn one—the same day my daughter celebrates her birthday. This makes my connection with her special. My daughter’s celebration will be in very different circumstances to the one Laila dreams for Ibrahim. She wants to be able to give him a birthday party, with food, new clothes and toys—simple wishes, wishes that we take for granted. For Laila, there are no guarantees, just hope that tomorrow will be another day to stay alive.
This is How You Can Help!
September 1-7: 30% of all sales from my website will go to Laila's family and @humanstobe.
Every purchase you make this week will help towards putting food not just on their table, but the tables of the children she and her family support in their community. It might even buy Ibrahim his first birthday present. The fact that people make ANY contribution matters. It makes Palestinina families feel seen, because for too long they have not existed for us. Their lives haven’t mattered, nobody cared enough.
Crucial To Your Understanding
Laila's fundraising totals look substantial, but this hides a different reality. 35% - 50% of the value of any Palestinian’s fundraising efforts is lost in fees to money changers—cash is king in Gaza. Immediaitely after October 7th 2023, Laila’s goal was to raise enough money to evacuate so Mohammed could get medical treatment for the injuries he sustained in 2014. But as Israel escalated the viollence to encompass all civilian Palestinians, not just Hamas, and supplies became increasingly scarce, prices escalated to astronomical proportions: a single tin of baby formula costs $50. Every dollar donated works incredibly hard, but it doesn't stretch anything like as far as it would in our world.
The proceeds I will send for any sales is not charity—it's my way, and a way we can show solidarity. It's recognition that a mother's love in Gaza is worth the same as a mother's love anywhere else.
Why Now?
Up until October 7th, 2023, I had scant knowledge of the history of Israel/Palestine. I watched with horror as events unfolded over the subsequent days and months. I was profoundly shocked by the response I received when, early days, I tried to raise funds for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund at the response I received from people with whom I had shared history - I can no longer call them old friends. The deafening silence around Gaza for nearly two years has left me feeling like I was screaming into a void.
Recently though, something has shifted. More people finally get it, they are listening, they are opening their eyes and hearts, they are finally speaking out, finally taking action. I was already quite late to the table. Being late at the table is better than not there at all. We can all see with our own eyes Israel has instigated a man-made famine. We can no longer pretend this is not the holocaust of our generation. Ethnic cleansing unfolding before our very eyes in 4K technicolor while our governments make grand statements, but fail to take any meaningful action.
Laila could be killed any day—she knows this. She has talked to me about her fears about the manner of her death, and what will happen to her children if they survive and she does not. Her focus while she still lives is to build a legacy with her grassroots charity, @humanstobe, so it is something that will grow and outlast her if she doesn’t survive. She wants Humans To Be to be a charity organisation that meets the mental health needs of the children of Gaza continue to experienced extreme trauma. They have been witness to unimaginable death and destruction, the likes of which we cannot even begin to comprehend.
The Bigger Picture
Laila's story is not unique—it's simply one example among two million Palestinians facing the same impossible reality. I belong to a WhatsApp group of women, some of whom have compiled a spreadsheet of over 70 families who desperately need donations to stay alive. Each family has been verified through video calls by @newy_watermelon_collective and @newcastlemumsforpalestine based in Australia.
What these families need most are people willing and able to donate regularly rather than just one-off contributions. Regular donations—even £5 a week—provide the reliability they desperately need when it's literally their only form of income. They don't want our pity. They simply want to live with dignity that we all expect as human beings, and those of us who have the means to help them do that, should.
Your Impact
If you have got this far with reading this blog post, my profound thanks!
As Greta Thunberg said:
“There is no hope without action. The one thing we need more of is action. When we take action hope is everywhere.”
When you shop with us this week, you're not just making a purchase. You're:
Giving a disabled father a chance to get medical treatment for his injuries
Putting food in the mouths of two little boys
Supporting a mother who refuses to let despair win
Funding mental health support for Gaza's orphaned children
Proving that Ibrahim's life matters to people he'll never meet
You are giving a family hope.
The Truth About Courage
Laila embodies courage I can barely comprehend. She studies while bombs fall. She builds community, running summer camps in the midst of grieving the loss of family members. She dreams while dodging death. She loves fiercely while living through genocide.
The least we can do is shop with intention for seven days not just with me but with any purchases you make - or don’t make.
Let's make Ibrahim's first birthday worth celebrating. Let's show Laila her voice matters.
Because it does. They all do.
With love and determination,
P.S. - Share this with anyone who believes children's birthdays should be celebrated, not survived. Every voice matters now.
Shop September 1-7 and 30% goes directly to Laila's family