Help the father of the Portuguese-Palestinian baby who survived 3 bombings in Gaza

Campaign to stop the eviction of the father of the Portuguese-Palestinian baby who survived 3 bombings in Gaza and prevent her from going to an institution and family separation

Ahmed Ashour is the father of the Portuguese-Palestinian baby just over 1 year old who miraculously survived 3 different bombings in Gaza and in which practically all of her family members died and who has been in Portugal since the end of November with her only surviving direct family member, her father.

Ahmed, also Portuguese-Palestinian, has been in Portugal for 10 years, came to study, has worked here and made this country his own. His wife and their children had gone to Gaza a few months earlier, not anticipating the serious escalation that followed, due to the need for specific therapies for a son with special needs that in Portugal became unaffordable while he waited in Portugal for family reunification.

In the bombings of Gaza in mid-November, Ahmed lost his two children, his wife, his parents and 2 brothers, only Nour survived 3 times among the rubble. In total, including his immediate family and extended family, Ahmed has already lost 20 family members in this war and, of the 2 brothers who are still alive in Gaza, one of them was seriously injured and the other had minor injuries.

When Nour arrived in Portugal, she was admitted to Santa Maria Hospital. He was discharged from clinical care 2 weeks later but was not granted social discharge for a few more weeks due to his serious financial situation and the fact that his father's current home at that time did not have a refrigerator, stove or washing machine and the fact that it had a room with the ceiling at risk of collapsing, with only a few thin improvised beams supporting the ceiling.

After the first news about this case appeared on some television channels, Ahmed received some help with household appliances and equipment and supplies/clothes for the baby. However, despite already living with his daughter, Ahmed remains unemployed, in debt, without money to pay his rent and facing eviction at any moment.

The family is being monitored by the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People and it is essential that Ahmed resolve his serious financial situation in order to be able to support his daughter and for her (“his reason for living”, as he said in the SIC report at the end of November) not be handed over to an institution.

The objective of the campaign is for Ahmed to be able to have enough money to pay his accumulated rent debt (he has an eviction action in court for this debt – more information in the “Budget and schedule” section) and to rent another house that already has housing security conditions until he can reorganize himself to go back to work and maintain his new home.

If Ahmed is unable to resolve his serious financial situation very quickly and does not stop the eviction action in court as quickly as possible, he runs the risk of being evicted at any moment and his daughter ending up in an institution. Through your contribution we can prevent another tragedy from happening to this family, which would be the separation of Ahmed and Nour, after having already suffered so many family tragedies in such a short time, and we can help create a happier ending to this story.

About the author

My name is Ricardo, I do not belong to any private institution of social solidarity or NGO type of institution. I'm just a citizen concerned about this case that I saw in the news at the end of November and my goal is to help to resolve this difficult and complex situation that Ahmed and Nour find themselves in.

I was quite touched by the fact that I realized shortly after the news at the end of November that the Portuguese-Palestinian baby, just over 1 year old, who survived what I thought was a bombing in Gaza and in which she lost practically all her his family members, after all he had survived 3 different bombings and it was in the first bombing that his mother and brothers were killed.

And when I read in the news that the baby's father was unemployed and at risk of eviction, I immediately predicted that the baby's father, after so many tragedies suffered in such a short period of time, was now also at risk of not having financial and housing conditions to be able to keep his daughter.

And that the baby (who is called Nour), after so many tragedies and having been removed from the rubble of bombings 3 times, was now at risk of being separated from her father and, after so many tragedies suffered in such a short time, was now running the risk of ending up in an institution where the probability of having a very bad life is around 99%.

Meanwhile, I had the idea to create a crowdfunding campaign for the benefit of the baby's father. I managed to get direct contact with the baby's father (through my brother who works for a TV program and who got contact through its journalists). I met with Ahmed in person at the end of November and told him about my intention to create a crowdfunding campaign in his favor.

However, he told me that at that time he did not have an identification card (or possibly he did not want to give me this information because he was suspicious because he did not know me). Unfortunately, for this reason, I was unable to create the crowdfunding campaign right away. However, I contacted him a short time ago, I asked him how he was doing and he told me that he still had no money to pay the rent but he informed me that he once again had a valid citizen card and I decided to create this crowdfunding campaign.

As I predicted at the time of the news about his case in late November and early December, Ahmed received some help with household appliances (the house previously had no refrigerator, stove, or washing machine but there is still a room at risk of collapsing with some improvised thin beams to support the ceiling) and equipment and supplies/clothes for the baby. But after the news and the temporary media attention, he continues to have urgent financial problems, is in debt, remains unemployed and is in a situation of imminent risk of eviction and the consequent loss of his daughter to an institution.

Budget and due dates

The rent debt initially arose due to the fact that the landlord did not accept Ahmed and his wife's request to carry out work in a room of the house whose roof was at risk of collapsing and where only a few thin improvised beams were placed to support it (see photo in the campaign photo section).

Ahmed and his wife at the time did not initially pay the rent as a way of putting pressure on the landlord to carry out the necessary works. And it was at the same time that Ahmed and his wife had to start paying around €1000 per month for therapies for their son who had serious developmental problems. This was the reason why Ahmed and his wife's wife and children then went to Gaza to try other therapies for their son that were less financially unaffordable and to have greater family support.

Meanwhile, Ahmed became unemployed in Portugal, with no money for rent and went to Gaza for a few months to closely monitor his son. He returned alone to Portugal and shortly afterwards suffered the several deaths of his closest family members and others that have already been mentioned above.

The first objective of the campaign is to raise enough funds to pay his accumulated rent debt (€10,000) and stop the imminent eviction action (there is an eviction action in court that could be initiated at any time).

The second objective of the campaign is to raise enough funds for Ahmed to pay the first months of rent on another house that already has safe housing conditions and so that he can reorganize himself to go back to work and maintain his new home with Nour (around €4000 for rent on a new house, deposits and until Ahmed finds a job again, the rest of the remaining amount concerns the collection of fees and VAT on this platform).

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