A good few years ago I met a young man called Kamal Ghazall. We met through Facebook. We've never met in person because Kamal was living in the open prison called Gaza, in Palestine. Both myself and Kamal connected and I kind of adopted him. I think of Kamal as my adopted son.
One of the things that connected myself and Kamal was our broken hearts and dark minds. For me, I had finally found someone who not only understood me, but someone who thought like me too. Kamal also used poetry to let go of some of his pains. Kamal's poems are truly beautiful; he not only opens up his heart, but his mind and soul too.
Life inside Gaza for Kamal was unbearable; along with his broken heart he had to financially support his whole family. Most young men in the West would be selfish and see to their own needs first; but not Kamal, his priority was to look after his whole family. Kamal had three jobs, sometimes four, and nearly all of his earnings went to feed and clothe his family. How many young men would gladly give up their wages to make sure their family were fed and taken care of? Even during Ramadan when everyone was fasting, Kamal would take on extra work, just to make sure the family had extra money, so his younger brothers and sisters (who were under 10) had gifts for their Eid celebrations. Kamal never once asked for money or help off anyone. Kamal has a big, beautiful and kind heart; he's a much kinder person than I.
Kamal's life was so hard he wanted to die, the only thing that kept him hanging on was the love he has for his family; and understanding how much his family needed him, he loves his family with his whole heart, especially his younger siblings Adam, Malak and little Mohammed; they are his life.
Kamal is a qualified English teacher and translator. Kamal's big dream was to go to university in the USA to get his Masters degree, so he could get a good job and give even more support to his family in Gaza. To try to achieve his dreams Kamal took on extra work, he asked no one for any help he just worked non stop to be able to pay his own way; even in his spare time, or during a long night shift he would do extra studies, to make sure he passed the exams needed to go to a USA university. Due to his hard work, focus and determination Kamal found a university and got accepted. Additionally Kamal also found accommodation for himself and employment for when he got to the USA. Kamal was determined to make his family proud of him and give them a better life. The very last thing Kamal needed was his Visa, this should have been completely straight forward. Without any help from anyone Kamal arranged to visit the USA embassy in Egypt to get his Visa. What people have to understand is there are no embassies in Gaza, you just have two options. One, you go into Israel or two, you go into Egypt. Both are very difficult.
Kamal should have been accepted without any problems, but life decided to be even more cruel to him. He decided to leave Gaza and visit the USA embassy in Egypt. To leave Gaza this way is very difficult because the Rafah border crossing is hardly ever open, and the Egyptian government officials are known for treating the Palestinians extremely badly, they treat them like dirt and they fully take advantage of the difficult situation the Palestinians are in. Quite often corrupt Egyptian guards charge the Palestinians as much as $2,000 to leave through the Rafah border crossing. This is completely illegal, but no one stops it from happening. Kamal knew that once he left Gaza it would be difficult to return because the border is mostly closed. Kamal took the brave decision to leave his family and try to work hard to create a better life. Sadly it took him weeks to leave because the border guards were being difficult. They charged him twice, leaving him with very little money to survive on, Kamal knew life was going to be hard for a bit, but he was determined and prepared to do his best for the people he loves.
Unfortunately for Kamal, Donald Trump got elected as US President and did his Muslim travel ban, preventing people from certain poor countries from going to the USA, so for no good reason Kamal's visa was rejected. This is quite ironic as Kamal shouldn't have had any travel problems because the USA doesn't support an independent State for Palestine, so officially Palestine isn't a State / country in the eyes of the American government. Kamal tried everything to get his Visa but was unsuccessful. Kamal was now completely stuck in Egypt; he was unable to return to Gaza because the Rafah border crossing was closed. Thankfully he had a few friends who were able to help him, but his permit for Egypt was about to expire and if he didn't leave they would have put him in prison - for years.
Kamal managed to get to Jordan and find some work. He tried again for a Visa because the university wanted him but again he was rejected. Kamal still dreams of working hard to create a better life for himself and his family, sadly America is no longer an option, and he also understands that he can't achieve his goals by himself; so his friends have teamed up to try and help him, they've set up a fundraising page for him because if he can raise a little money he can go to Canada to study. All he needs is to raise around $7,000, please if you support Palestinians and the Palestinian cause, then please support Kamal in some way; either by donating a small amount, sharing this post, saying a prayer or if you have any ideas on how to help him please do.
Thanks for reading and hopefully supporting - Love you Kamal ❤💙💚💛💜
https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22fundraiser_campaign_id%22%3A743035059464669%2C%22source%22%3A%22feed%22%7D&path=%2Ffundraiser%2F
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