I want to tell you what the news doesn’t talk about. 1.4 million people are displaced from their homes now, more than half of the homes in Gaza have been damaged by Israel’s attacks. These families lost everything that they worked their fingers to the bone to build. They worked their whole lives to build a home and to try to make a better life for their children. Now they lost their children, their homes, and their dreams.

Just yesterday, Israel bombed my neighbor’s home and three of my neighbors were killed and the rest of the family injured. This is the situation everywhere in Gaza right now.

And in the midst of this scary situation, MECA is working to save the dignity of our people and the last thing they have: their lives. We are providing them with their basic needs. We want to help our community until the last moment of our lives. We don’t know how much longer we will live. But it is the time to respond, to put our humanity into practice, and take our responsibilities to our communities seriously. This horrific situation pushes us to do whatever we can to help each other.

-Wafaa El-Derawi, MECA staff member writing by text message from Gaza