We Didn’t Win. This was not a win.

When I wrote The Thing She Carried, I didn’t write it to win.

I wrote it because we couldn’t look away. Because Bisan’s voice, still crackling defiantly through the noise, haunted us. Because we were tired of watching genocide unfold in real time while the world debates semantics. Tired of seeing the west turn inward and pretend they didn’t see.

The poem was published on a writing site. It won. Five hundred dollars. But when you write about starvation, when you echo the words of a young woman documenting the death of her people, you don’t win. You just feel numb. And sick.

We believe in giving quietly. And we have, and will continue to, whenever we can. But in this case, silence felt like complicity. This isn’t a story about giving. It’s a story about what was never ours to keep.

So, after much research and reaching out we sent the money to Gaza.

To Habiba.

Habiba Tik Tok

Habiba has cystic fibrosis and needs medical evacuation. Her body, like so many others, is running out of time. The money won’t save her — not alone. But it might buy a bigger chance. And that’s more than most are given.

We were able to get it to her through a friend of Rivers — someone working directly with six families in Gaza, providing immediate, direct aid. No NGO pipelines. No bloated overheads. No CEO taking a fat-ass salary whilst the minions ‘volunteer’.

We are watching a genocide. We are watching it be rationalized, distracted from, wrapped in polite language by powerful men who have never missed a meal in their life. We are watching people be erased – exterminated- in real time. Bisan is still documenting. As best she can – When she can. If she can. Still surviving. Still packing her rage, her sadness, her toothbrush. Still pleading. Still starving. Still here.

This is not a donation drive. This is a call to stop performing helplessness.

There are people on the ground. Not organizations. Not press statements. People.

People like Zaina helping six families. As best she can.

Zaina offers help. Just help, from one human being to another.

Zaina Tik Tok

Zaina Instagram

We could only help just one family in any vaguely meaningful way.

If you can help, help. Quietly, directly, and now.

Because we are running out of time.

And because the most powerful thing about Bisan’s voice is that she hasn’t stopped using it. Even when no one is listening. Even when we turned away. Even when she watched her family and friends die in front of her. She never stopped trying.

So, we can’t. Mustn’t. Not until the people of Palestine stop having to bury their children.

You can find Habiba’s fundraiser here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-habibas-fight-against-cystic-fibrosis?utm_campaign=unknown&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=widget