We are all aware of the genocide that is happening in Palestine. It is a genocide that the United States continues to fund without tax dollars, that is fact. A lot of Americans and the world at large have not been given the opportunity to hear directly from one of the survivors in Gaza. I was fortunate enough to make a friendship with a man named Sami.

 I met Sami when he sent me a message via Instagram on November 9, 2024, at 9:01 a.m. reading: 

“Hello sister, I am Sami from Gaza. I am 23 years old. I live with my family and brothers in a torn and useless tent ever since the war (genocide) came upon us and destroyed our lives. My family consists of 13 people, including 5 young people, two of whom are very young. They have no job and don’t know anything, I am the only one that helps my family and takes care of them with food and drink after the martyrdom of my dear older brothers since the beginning of the war (distress emoji). My father is old and cannot work after diseases have spread throughout his body. This is how my family is…

I created this account to take care of them as much as possible to provide a living and keep us safe. Please, my sister, I am begging you to help me. (Two watermelon emojis, one crying, and emoji pointing down.)

There is so much that has happened since our first contact. He and his family are in deep need. I became a co-creator for his GoFundMe with (name her). Nonetheless, he has become my friend and his family as well. 

I know Ramadan is an important religious holiday in the Muslim religion and I wanted to ask him how he felt about this one with the ceasefire and prisoner exchange going on. 

“Can I publish your story?”

“I don’t mind.”

“How important is this Ramadan to you and your family verses other years and how does the genocide make it different?”

“Yes, of course, it is different from previous years. This year, we lost friends, relatives, and people who were always close to us wherever we went, and we began to wish that they would be by our side this year so that they could share with us our joy and our previous life, but praise be to God for those we lost and who have become stuck in our hearts with memories that are difficult to forget.

The first day ended peacefully, praise be to God, and I am very happy about that. We provided enough food for this suhoor for all my family members. Then we all prayed Fajr and went to sleep until daylight. I washed my face and prayed two rak’as to God Almighty for this day so that He would grant us goodness, and then I went…

My brother Muhammad and I went to the market and was able to provide some flour, vegetables, and a variety of delicious sweets for the beginning of this blessed month, in order to make everyone around me happy. My head was hurting because of the sun’s rays, and I went to sleep. Then, after that, I woke up and lit fires for my family so that they would prepare breakfast for the Maghrib call to prayer, and we sat down to eat breakfast after that. Not much time passed until I finished.

I am now sitting on the carpet and praising God Almighty at the end of this first day of the blessed month, hearing supplications from the mosques, and that He may bless me in the balance of my good deeds and my soul, and forgive me my sins, and provide me with goodness and kindness to all people, and protect my friends from any evil or hatred, and that I be able to provide security for my family throughout this year. (Heart emoji, praying hands emoji.)

Such a melancholy happiness in his words. 

Sami, like so many who have seen and survived genocide, a sad truth, should not be pushed or set aside. The Palestinians have a long way to go in rebuilding their lives and their country. We have a long way to go as Americans to help them do so. It is not just a necessary good but a moral obligation. If we are Americans and American overindulgent taxpayer dollars funded the bombs to exterminate family lines; there is no justification in the wrongdoing here. There is no humanity here and the longer that we allow this to happen, the more guilty each and every one of us are.