It’s been over a year since I’ve been away from home. When I received a scholarship to study abroad for one semester in the United States in August 2023, my original plan was to travel for four months. But now I must stay in North Carolina, far from my family in Gaza, due to the genocide.
I have three brothers and three sisters. I’m the second youngest of all my siblings (the youngest is Ahmed, who is 20) and I am an uncle to 10 nephews and nieces.
My nephew Mahmoud, 6, is particularly dear to my heart, and not only because he is my namesake. He once asked me to chastise the floor after he fell, saying, “Bad floor! How dare you hit Mahmoud!” Afterward, he asked me to go with him to buy chips and candy. He loved my stories and was always sad when he had to leave my house. ….more