“I Chose to Stay. I Chose to Help.” Neveen’s Story

“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 only five colleagues and almost no resources; no food, no transportation, no office, sometimes not even internet, but she kept going. Each day, she walked miles, often on an empty stomach, just to find a fragile signal strong enough to send urgent reports.

Humanitarian Work Under Bombs

In Gaza, there are no safe zones. Every step, every report, could be a last. One day, while working in a warehouse, strikes hit a nearby school sheltering displaced families. Neveen and her colleague Ahmed Saad (may his soul rest in peace) ran toward the screams. Families were desperate for water and hygiene supplies. She immediately sent a report, and within hours, aid was mobilized.

Another time, she crossed Gaza City on foot under shelling, searching for internet. She opened her laptop in the middle of the street, trying to upload data while explosions echoed nearby. A strike hit close. She grabbed her computer and ran for her life. “In Gaza,” she reflects, “even sending a report can cost you your life.”

Fainting from Hunger, But Refusing to Stop

The work took a physical toll. Neveen fainted many times from hunger, dehydration, and exhaustion. Once, during a hospital meeting, she collapsed from severe pain. Doctors could offer her no medicine, only the advice to eat something sweet, but in North Gaza, there was nothing to eat. She was suffering from hepatitis without treatment, without proper food. And yet, she did not stop. “Even when you are starving,” she says, “you keep working because someone else’s life depends on it.”

A New Purpose Amid Ruins

Today, Neveen works with the World Food Programme (WFP) as a Programme Assistant. The war took her old life, her clinic, and friends she loved, but it gave her something unshakable: a conviction that humanitarian work is not just a profession but a moral duty. “I can’t stop the bombs,” she says, “but I can deliver food. And sometimes, food is the only hope left.”

She remembers vividly the day they began distributing wheat flour after weeks of famine. Under the burning sun, she and her colleagues carried sacks to faraway shelters. Families received their first bags of flour in weeks, smiling through tears. “In those moments,” she recalls, “you realize this is not just food. It is dignity. It is survival.”

 

What She Is Proud Of

Neveen has lost family members, friends, and colleagues. Yet she remains proud. Proud of every hard decision, proud of her team, proud that they refused to give up.

“Sometimes,” she says, “humanitarian work is not about changing the whole world, it’s about making sure one more family eats tonight.”

 

Being a Woman in War

“As a woman in Gaza,” Neveen reflects, “I had to fight twice as hard to be heard, to be trusted, to lead.”She lost 13 kilograms from hunger and stress. She rebuilt her career from scratch in a war zone where women’s leadership is often dismissed. Yet she refused silence. She stood up in high-level meetings, spoke out, and defended what she knew was right for her community.

Her gender also shaped her approach. She sees every mother waiting in line for food, every child clinging to her side. “Their pain is my pain too,” she says. “As a woman, I don’t just distribute aid, I carry the hopes of other women trying to keep their families alive.”

Message to Other Women

To women working in conflict zones, Neveen’s message is clear: “You are stronger than you think. Even in war, your voice matters.”

She insists that women must not wait for perfect conditions because they will never come. “Start where you are, with what you have, and never let fear silence you. When you fight for people’s survival, you are not just doing a job, you are rewriting what leadership means for women in war.”

 

Hopes for the Future

“Education is my way of fighting back,” she says. “Not with weapons, but with knowledge that can save lives.” She hopes to return stronger, equipped to help rebuild Gaza, not only its buildings, but its hope, dignity, and livelihoods.

For Gaza, her hope is simple: that children sleep without fear, that families eat without wondering if it is their last meal, that streets echo again with laughter instead of rubble. “One day,” she says, “I want to walk through Gaza and recognize it again, not by its ruins, but by the laughter of its people.”

 

If the World Listened

Her appeal to the world is urgent: “Do not look away. Gaza is not just news headlines; it is families, children, people who want to live.”

She does not ask for pity. She asks for humanity. “Stop the starvation. Protect civilians. Let us live with dignity.”

And her final challenge is stark: “If you truly believe in humanity, prove it. Because every bag of food, every open road, every life saved matters.”