{"id":230,"date":"2025-06-25T07:15:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/?p=230"},"modified":"2025-06-26T14:44:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:44:35","slug":"ashraf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/ashraf\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashraf"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I arrived in Ghent from Gaza in 2018. After being granted refugee status, I tried to build a new life here. It wasn\u2019t easy, as I was completely alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, I soon got in touch with Een Hart voor Vluchtelingen (\u201cA Heart for Refugees\u201d), where I met many people. Marijke, in particular, holds a special place in my heart. She is like a second mother to me.\nI also try to give something back as a volunteer with Een Hart voor Vluchtelingen. I work there in the sewing workshop as an upholsterer \u2014 the trade I learned from my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was 13 years old, I became the victim of an Israeli airstrike on my way home from school. Unlike some of my friends, I survived the attack, but I had to undergo several surgeries on my leg. I never fully recovered, which prevents me from working full time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, I obtained Belgian citizenship, which finally allowed me to travel to Egypt. I spent the last days of Ramadan there with my mother. I promised baba (dad) that next year it would be his turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then everything changed...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since October 7th, my life has come to a standstill. We\u2019ve experienced many wars in Gaza, but this time is different. Fear and uncertainty about the fate of my family have taken over my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our house in Gaza City was bombed. My baba didn\u2019t survive the bombing. My mother and my little cousins were seriously injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our house had been destroyed before, but my father always rebuilt it. Now my father is gone \u2014 and we have nothing left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My family fled from Gaza to Khan Younis, and then further to Rafah. They\u2019ve lost everything and are living in extremely difficult conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a desperate attempt to get my mother to safety, I went to Egypt in February 2024. I paid a lot of money to try to get her and my nephew out of Gaza. Full of hope, I waited in Egypt for good news \u2014 but unfortunately...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now, the border has been closed for over a year. My family is living in tents on the beach. There\u2019s no medication, not enough food\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel responsible for them, but there is so little I can do to help. The fear and uncertainty over their fate dominate my life. Sometimes I can\u2019t reach them for days \u2014 even weeks. All I can do is hope they are still alive, and follow the news, praying not to see their names among the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, I can always count on the support of Mama Marijke. She is always there for me.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ik kwam in 2018 vanuit Gaza naar Gent. Na mijn erkenning als vluchteling probeerde ik hier een nieuw leven op […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1.jpeg",1125,1467,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1-230x300.jpeg",230,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1-768x1001.jpeg",768,1001,true],"large":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1-785x1024.jpeg",785,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1.jpeg",1125,1467,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1.jpeg",1125,1467,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Achraf-1.jpeg",9,12,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Khalid","author_link":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/author\/250651pwpadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Ik kwam in 2018 vanuit Gaza naar Gent. Na mijn erkenning als vluchteling probeerde ik hier een nieuw leven op […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}