Green Bay family desperate to get to help for family members trapped in Gaza
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Sabrin Qadada has fond memories of her summer vacation to Gaza when she was 11 years old in 1999.
The Mediterranean Sea, just a block away from her extended family’s home, was a welcome sight, and she could not have had a better view from the top of the building.
“I think about it every day. Even before October, I think about Gaza every day and my family there. Always,” the Green Bay resident said. “I actually saw the family house [through social media], and it really caught me off guard.”
The view of the neighborhood now is startling. A massive hole in her family’s house, caused by a missile, left the home uninhabitable, and debris was strewn throughout the house from other strikes.
“October started, and things went downhill very quickly,” Sabrin’s father, Tahsen Qadada, said of his family overseas. “Their house was destroyed, and they had to move to central Gaza, and from their they had to move to the Rafah refugee camp.”
He and his immediate family fear for their remaining loved ones every day. They have 27 family members they pray to get to safety as soon as possible.
“I lost already six family members and almost 30 friends,” Tahsen said. “If they do move, the area that’s supposed to be safe gets bombed. There’s no safe place in the whole Gaza strip.”
Tahsen says that life in the refugee camp is miserable.
“It’s sitting and waiting for… a bomb to drop,” he said. “Food doesn’t exist, water you can’t drink, can’t even wash with it.”
Tahsen has sent what he can to help his loved ones.
“He sent his own money to get food and necessities they need right now, but it’s too much,” Yasmine, Tahsen’s youngest daughter, said.
So Yasmine got the idea to create a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the family members to evacuate Gaza.
“Every day is a new day,” Sabrin said. “It brings an opportunity for them to be safe, and it brings an opportunity for us to receive horrible news.”
The family has reached out to Senator Tammy Baldwin, Representative Mike Gallagher, and the U.S. Embassy in Israel. All said that there was nothing they could do to help.
“There have always been bouts of bombing and loss, but we’ve never been affected like this,” Tatjana Qadada, Tahsen’s wife, said. “Families come together in one home, and then they’re annihilated in one strike.”
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With tears in her eyes and her voice choked up, it is hard to express her thoughts throughout the day, wondering if her family and friends are safe.
“You worry they’re dead. Were they the ones who were taken away…. The loss is devastating.”
