At 18 years old, Malak is holding tightly onto the defining dream of her childhood: to become a doctor. Today, that aspiration exists against a backdrop of profound disruption, displacement, and hardship. Malak lives with her mother and two brothers, Uday and Atef, in a worn tent in Gaza after their family home was destroyed during the ongoing crisis. Life in the camp is difficult, uncertain, and physically demanding, yet Malak remains deeply determined to continue her education, heal her community, and build a secure, meaningful future for herself and her family.
Despite the pervasive displacement and the immense disruption caused by the conflict, Malak displayed remarkable academic resilience. She successfully completed high school with an impressive score of 96%. With this stellar achievement, she made the decisive step to enroll in medical school, fulfilling a long-held ambition and moving closer to the career she has dreamed about for years.
Continuing her studies, however, has proven to be an extraordinary challenge. Many universities and educational facilities across Gaza have sustained severe damage or have been completely destroyed during the hostilities. Consequently, a significant portion of learning has been forced online. Finding reliable internet access in a displaced setting is exceedingly difficult, and Malak urgently needs a dedicated laptop to attend remote lectures, keep up with a rigorous medical curriculum, and complete her academic assignments.
Furthermore, university tuition fees represent another major hurdle. Her family’s financial resources have been entirely depleted by the crisis, making it impossible for them to afford the costs of higher education without external support.
Studying While Living with Pain
Malak’s daily struggle is compounded by a serious physical injury she sustained during the conflict. She was shot, and the bullet remains dangerously lodged in her abdomen. Navigating her education while carrying this physical trauma requires immense fortitude. She continues to attend medical check-ups whenever possible while waiting for specialized surgery—a procedure that remains currently unavailable to her under the severely strained and collapsing healthcare system in Gaza.
Despite living with constant pain and uncertainty, Malak persists with her studies while actively helping her family shoulder the burdens of daily survival. At their tent home, she supports her mother with essential everyday tasks, including cooking, cleaning, and washing. Her mother works tirelessly in a small local bakery, but the meager wages she earns fall woefully short of covering the family’s basic needs amid skyrocketing prices and widespread scarcity.
Life After Losing Their Home
Before the current crisis shattered their lives, Malak and her family lived in a stable, permanent concrete house. The destruction of their home reduced years of family history and safety to rubble, forcing them to relocate to a fragile tent. This temporary shelter offers very little protection against the elements, leaving them vulnerable to the biting cold of winter, the oppressive heat of summer, and heavy seasonal rains that threaten to flood their living space.
The family’s daily existence is a constant battle for basic provisions. They are in urgent need of fundamental items, including a structurally stronger tent, waterproof coverings to withstand the weather, mattresses, blankets, cooking equipment, cooking gas, a reliable water tank, regular food supplies, hygiene products, and a dependable source of light.
Malak herself requires basic personal items such as clothes and shoes, alongside critical financial assistance to cover her university tuition and provide the laptop essential for her medical studies.
How Islamic Relief Supports Orphaned Children
In the midst of these compounding crises, Malak’s family receives vital assistance from Islamic Relief, whose interventions offer a crucial lifeline at a time when rising costs and displacement have made meeting everyday needs nearly impossible.
Islamic Relief has a long-standing commitment to vulnerable communities in the region, having supported orphaned children in Gaza since 1999 through its established Orphan Sponsorship Programme. The programme is specifically designed to assist children who have lost one or both parents, providing families with a regular monthly financial payment that helps restore a degree of stability.
Families are empowered to use this financial support to address the needs they consider most urgent, whether that involves purchasing food, accessing necessary healthcare, paying for educational materials, or covering other essential household expenses. In addition to monthly stipends, Islamic Relief endeavors—wherever possible—to include sponsored families in broader seasonal support initiatives. These include food distributions during Ramadan and Qurbani, Eid gifts for children, and specialized winter assistance packages to help families cope with harsh weather conditions.
The demand for these humanitarian interventions has expanded significantly during the current crisis. Today, Islamic Relief is actively supporting nearly 25,200 orphaned children across Gaza, providing essential relief and a measure of hope. Despite this expansive reach, the scale of the need remains staggering, with over 5,100 orphaned children currently lingering on the organization’s waiting list, desperately hoping for the vital lifeline of sponsorship.
A Chance to Keep Moving Forward
For Malak, continuing her university education represents far more than the acquisition of a degree or professional status. She harbors a deep, personal hope that becoming a qualified doctor will eventually allow her to extend compassionate care to others who have experienced the exact same pain, trauma, and hardship she has lived through herself.
Despite losing her family home, living with an unresolved and serious injury, navigating daily danger, and facing insurmountable financial and logistical barriers, Malak has resolutely refused to give up on her dream. With continued humanitarian support and solidarity, resilient young people like Malak can keep learning, retain their hope, and actively work toward a more secure and peaceful future.