{"id":234,"date":"2025-06-25T07:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/?p=234"},"modified":"2025-06-26T14:18:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:18:25","slug":"khaled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verhalenuitgaza.be\/en\/khaled\/","title":{"rendered":"KHALED"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Gaza to Exile... I am Khaled, and this is what remains of me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am Khaled Albardawil, born in Gaza in 1986, at the moment the First Intifada broke out.\nI was born to the rhythm of stones and struggle, in a city that has been under siege since my birth \u2014 to this very day.\nI was born to learn that living in my homeland is not a given right, but a daily struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in a large and loving family, with five brothers, four sisters, and two caring parents.\nOur house in Gaza wasn\u2019t big, but it was warm \u2014 filled with laughter, memories, and the scent of childhood.\nEvery corner held a story, every wall a dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I earned a degree in Information Technology, followed by a bachelor\u2019s in Business Administration.\nDuring my studies, I worked in construction during the day and as a sound technician and editor in the evenings.\nI worked hard to build myself and my future, even as everything around me collapsed.\n\nLater, I worked for one of the largest aid organizations in Gaza, where I grew to become the financial and administrative director.\nI helped orphans, the poor, and entire communities \u2014 people who suffered like I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 2014 war and increasing oppression, it became impossible to stay.\nThe blockade, the closure of bank accounts, and the constant threat forced me to leave Gaza in 2015.\nI did not leave for luxury. I left to survive.\n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went to Austria, continued my master\u2019s studies in Business Administration, but was not granted asylum there.\nIn 2018, I arrived in Belgium \u2014 exhausted, but determined.\nThe asylum procedure lasted three years and eight months \u2014 a time of uncertainty, displacement, waiting, and inner struggle.\nStill, I kept working, kept learning, kept hoping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I finally received my residence permit, I couldn\u2019t truly feel happy.
How could I celebrate while my family still lives under occupation?
How could I enjoy silence while Gaza screams and no one listens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I moved to Ghent to work, not knowing what this city would come to mean for me.\nI tried to learn Dutch, tried to integrate, but the pain of exile doesn\u2019t simply fade.\nExile is not a new life \u2014 it is a life with an open wound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On New Year\u2019s Eve, December 31, 2024, my life changed in a single second.\nWhile people around the world were celebrating, the Israeli army bombed our family home
It was reduced to rubble, along with years of memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the greatest loss was not the house itself.
My brother was killed in that attack.
He left without saying goodbye.
And since that day, I have never been the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My family became scattered.\nOur photos lay beneath the rubble, just like our future.
What remained was fear, hunger, sorrow, and blood in the streets.
What I experienced \u2014 what thousands in Gaza experience \u2014 is not war.\nIt is a slow, systematic genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time it rains, I hear bombs.
Every time I see a child laugh, I remember the children of Gaza.
Every time I eat, I think of the hungry back home.\nOf myself as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Van Gaza naar Ballingschap\u2026 Ik ben Khaled, en dit is wat er van mij overbleef Ik ben Khaled Albardawil, geboren 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Gaza naar Ballingschap\u2026 Ik ben Khaled, en dit is wat er van mij overbleef Ik ben Khaled Albardawil, geboren 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