Pleading in Gaza: ‘Let me have my future’ begs schoolgirl
In beleaguered Rafah, brave teen asks: ‘If we don’t have hope, how can we continue to live?’
BOONE, Iowa — Trapped in the beleaguered southern Gaza town of Rafah, a courageous teenage girl has sent a heartfelt video message to the world: “Please let me have my future.”
17-year-old Dalia told Middle East-based Christian broadcaster SAT-7 that she is desperate for the war to end so that her dream of finishing school and attending university won’t be destroyed.
“For the sake of the children, please stop the war,” said Dalia in an impassioned live video message via social media. “They need to return to school and see their friends.”
The teenager’s family is surviving on whatever they can find to eat, essentially a dwindling supply of canned foods, bread, and hard-to-find drinking water. They’re crammed into a house with 30 others who’ve fled their war-torn homes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, only to face possible starvation at the “end of the line” in Rafah, where despair is rampant.
Also distressing for Dalia and many Gazan children is the ongoing disruption to their school lessons — threatening to shatter their dreams for the future.
Since the war began last October, more than 625,000 children and teens in Gaza have been forced out of school, and at least 378 schools have been damaged or wiped out.
An estimated 1.5 million displaced Gazans are penned up in the southern border town of Rafah, bracing themselves for an all-out assault that they fear could result in major civilian casualties.
Holding Out Hope in Desperate Times
“There’s little to comfort the children in Rafah or their parents right now,” said Rex Rogers, SAT-7’s U.S.-based president, “but our Arabic-language programs ‘You Are Not Alone’ and ‘My School’ offer hope, broadcasting directly into Gaza via satellite television and online streaming, free-of-charge.”
“In the midst of pain, fear, and enormous uncertainty, God is there,” Rogers said. “Our aim is to make his love visible to everyone across the Holy Land, the Middle East and North Africa.”
Meanwhile, Dalia is determined not to give up hope.
“As long as we’re alive, we must have hope,” Dalia tells viewers in the live video message, as she stands alone on an eerily-quiet street in Rafah.
“If we don’t have hope, how can we continue to live?”
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Launched in 1996, SAT-7 USA — with its international headquarters in Cyprus — broadcasts Christian and educational satellite television and online programs in the Middle East and North Africa. Its mission is to make the gospel available to everyone, and support the church in its life, work and witness for Jesus Christ. SAT-7 broadcasts 24/7 in Arabic, Farsi (Persian), Dari, and Turkish, using multiple satellite channels and online services.
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Contact:
Palmer Holt
SAT-7
704-662-2569
pholt@inchristcommunications.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Religion News Association.