Thanks to Saleem Zaru, UPA Executive Director for sharing this photo and memory from one of his trips to the Gaza Strip.

“The photo above lives in my memory and perhaps on a couple of social media pages where I have shared it on different occasions. In my photo library it is filed as 3 boys in Gaza. Several years ago, I met the three boys briefly and had a short conversation with them.

They relayed to me how their father was killed, and their house was destroyed in an Israeli air raid in 2014. To support their family, like their late father before them, they continued running a mule and buggy to transport goods. When I asked to take their picture, they said yes but promise to come back and take a picture when we rebuild our house and started on their way…….

While this small business is the family’s only source of income, it is a source of great pride.

The pride of supporting one’s family, the pride of being resilient, the pride of not accepting to be victimized – the pride of having hope, the pride of being from Gaza.

These three boys have nothing to do with UPA’s programs, yet their story exemplifies life in Gaza.

UPA’s work in Gaza such as Healing through Feeling, the program that builds a cushion of support around victims of on-going trauma, the small business development program that supports young men and women to start their own businesses, and Mahmoud Darwaish University Scholarship Fund, to name a few, continues to cultivate hope.

The three boys in Gaza have lived in my memory for almost 8 years as 3 anonymous faces. Today as I reflect on my experience with them and try to convey it to you, I believe it is most appropriate to give the three boys names. Names that reflect their spirit, their attitude, and their lives. From now on we will call them Samed, Saber and Thafer.

Samed – Arabic for steadfast.
Saber – Arabic for patient.
Thafer – Arabic for victorious.

Your support to UPA today will continue to cultivate hope in the hardest of places.”

Donate here: act.upaconnect.org/untoldstories