Ms. Rachel says she was bullied after participating in a fundraiser for kids caught in global conflict
Ms. Rachel, the teacher and social media creator beloved by kids everywhere, has been creating videos on Cameo and donating all the profits—including fees and tips—to Save the Children, a humanitarian nonprofit that helps protect and provide for kids in conflict zones all over the world, including, notably, in Gaza.
Ms. Rachel’s fundraiser quickly raised $50,000 to provide healthcare, food, and other aid to kids in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and other conflict areas.
“Children should never experience the horrors of war,” she said in her first announcement, adding in another post that “we should be ashamed of how children around the world are suffering.”
In a follow-up thank-you video she shared after the fundraiser began, she said, “Children have fundamental human rights: Water, food, medical care, shelter, protection from violence, education. These rights are being violated, and these violations need to stop.”
Soon after the Cameo requests began coming in, she took to Instagram soon after posting it to share an emotional video where she said she was bullied for raising money for kids in Gaza, and that some of her followers accused her of not caring for “all children.”
“The bullying is so bad. It’s so bad,” she said tearfully into the camera. “But I can handle this. Saying I don’t care about all kids — it just hurts so bad. That is who I am. I love my neighbor. I love every child. Imagining for one second what a mom is going through, unable to feed her child or give her child clean water or keep her child safe. I can do this.”
In the caption, Ms. Rachel wrote more about how she was feeling.
“I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US – Muslim, Jewish, Christian children – all children, in every country. Not one is excluded,” she wrote. “I think part of why people respond to the show is they feel that care – I see every child as I see my own. I love every neighbor. Any child suffering is on my heart. To do a fundraiser for children who are currently starving – who have no food or water – who are being killed – is human.”
While the fundraiser was to help children all over the world caught in conflict, the inclusion of Gaza seemingly angered some parents who felt that Israeli children should have been included in the Save the Children fundraiser. Currently, Save the Children does not have an existing presence in Israel.
The existing conflict in Gaza has been described by activists, U.N. officials, and global health organizations as an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” that’s left an estimated 850,000 children short on food, water, shelter, or health care. Ms. Rachel’s videos surrounding the Cameo fundraiser, however, have been politically neutral and have only mentioned helping to save children all over the world.
She isn’t currently allowing comments on the video, but after just a few days, it has hundreds of thousands of likes. And the money Ms. Rachel has raised will actually help kids—and that’s what really matters.
