She Stands: Gaza

Baraa Alawoor grew up surrounded by stories and images, with drawing as her only language of expression. Her childhood world was filled with paper dolls, stitched fabrics, and tiny handmade sketchbooks where she scribbled the fairytales she longed to live.  “I never had bedtime stories,”  Baraa recalls.  “So I used to draw one before going to sleep, and then continue it in my dreams.” With time, she discovered that children’s books were the magical space where art and storytelling intertwined. She began sketching scenes from her daily life, coloring them with her imagination, and sharing them on Facebook. What began as intimate drawings soon reached publishers’ eyes. Offers started arriving, and her childhood dreams took shape in real books. Today, Baraa is both an illustrator and an author of children’s literature, with more than forty children’s books published, several international awards, and works that have traveled across languages and cultures.  “I see my wor...

 Her name is Leen; a name that means softness, gentleness. And she has spent her life trying to live up to it, even in Gaza, where life rarely offers softness. She chose a path where her tenderness could become strength: working as a Protection and Women’s Empowerment Officer with the International Rescue Committee.  “I try to live up to my name,”  she says.  “That’s why I choose spaces where I can help people, be gentle with them, and give them hope.” In the crowded camps, where women rise each morning to endless chores, fetching water, kneading dough, tending fires, Leen builds spaces that breathe hope. She recruits and trains women to be community facilitators, turning pain into purpose, displacement into leadership. Her pride lies in the fifteen women she has mentored, who now sustain their families while serving their own communities.  “Every one of them is a story of resilience,”  she explains.  “Each one gives, even in the hardest times.” But Le...

 Saja Emad describes herself as a daughter, a sister, and a woman of Gaza, carrying the weight of her family and community in a time when dreams are constantly interrupted by war. With a degree in business and marketing, she once worked in human resources, a world of routines and stability. But when the bombs began to fall, that life ended in an instant. She did not choose this path, it was what the war imposed on her and she stepped forward because there was no other choice but to help. Her work became a patchwork of responsibilities: documenting urgent needs, comforting children, guiding families through endless displacements. One day she might be gathering data in a shattered neighborhood, the next she might simply be a quiet listener to a mother recounting her grief. Nothing felt ordinary anymore; every conversation, every gesture carried the weight of survival. On the frontlines, fear was constant, like a shadow that walked beside her. Moving from one street to another felt li...

“I Chose to Stay. I Chose to Help.” - Neveen’s Story Before the war, Neveen A. Hasera, lived a life shaped by ambition and possibility. With a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar University, she worked as a Project Coordinator at GGateway, managing e-work projects supported by UNDP and the World Bank. Her mission was to empower Gaza’s youth to build freelancing careers, to give them hope, and to teach them to dream. But overnight, everything collapsed. The Day Everything Changed When the war began, Gaza City transformed into what Neveen calls  “a graveyard of dreams.”  She refused to evacuate south because she could not leave her family. For three months, she remained under constant bombardment, besieged in her home, watching death sweep through the streets she once loved. When famine began spreading through the north, she decided she could not remain silent. She joined PARC, helping to distribute hot meals and food parcels to families on the edge of starvation. With on...

 At 23 years old, Malak is the eldest of six sisters, carrying the weight of responsibility for her family of eight in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp. She is a graphic designer, digital artist, and animator with a degree in Business Administration, but beyond her titles, she is a young woman who turned her childhood passion for drawing into both a career and a lifeline. “Drawing has always been my escape,” she says. “Even in school, I joined art competitions across Gaza. I won first place many times. Over the years, I realized art wasn’t just something I loved, it was part of who I am.” When the war began, everything changed. Internet blackouts and power cuts made it impossible to continue her work. She lost her jobs and, for months, was left with nothing but uncertainty. “My work depends on electricity and internet. Without them, I had no income. But I couldn’t give up, my family depends on me.” When eSIMs finally became available, Malak built a small workspace on her rooftop. The s...

 At just 23, Zaina Al-Ghalayini was on the cusp of graduating with a degree in Clinical Nutrition from Al-Azhar University. She had worked hard to maintain an impressive GPA of 93.82%, and by 2024, she expected to be walking across a stage, not navigating displacement. But when the war broke out, her plans shattered. Education across Gaza came to a halt for more than six months. What was once a clear future became a cloud of uncertainty; would they ever finish their final year, or even hold their degrees in their hands? Displaced and stripped of her normal life, Zaina could not sit idle. She volunteered with Ard Al-Insan in projects tackling child malnutrition. The work was unpaid, but it was deeply meaningful. “I loved knowing that every day I was making an impact in my community and helping children who did nothing to deserve this,” she says. It also kept her tied to her chosen field at a time when her studies had been interrupted. When online classes resumed, she was in Al-Zawai...