For want of $100, Lulu is dying

 


Cats and Their People: Stories from Conflict Zones — Lulu and Sharif

Sharif introduces himself this way:

FROM GAZA, THE LAND OF WAR 🇵🇸; I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL CAT NAMED LULU 🐈.

Sharif is a young man trying to help his family and his "beautiful" dying cat, Lulu, who could live if she can get the medical treatment she needs -- a cost of $106 outstanding (down from $150, thanks to kind donors).

He has worked hard to make a life for himself as well. He has received permission to enroll in education in France, but he lacks $450 for the visa.

Twitter users have come to Sharif's rescue as he has navigated these problems -- and hopes. Currently, he still needs $556 USD to keep Lulu alive and obtain his visa. From the picture (others show Lulu obviously suffering), Lulu's situation is clearly urgent. Donations are needed very soon to save her.

Here is Sharif's story:

I am Shreef Al-Jabour, 24 years old, and I live in Gaza under extremely harsh conditions caused by the war. Every day, I struggle to keep my family and my cat Lulu alive after more than 1,000 days of siege, displacement, destruction, and worsening humanitarian conditions.

After losing my father, I became the main provider for my family. I am married, and my wife is in the first month of her pregnancy. She urgently needs nutritious food, vitamins, and proper care to protect her health and support a safe pregnancy. My mother also suffers from kidney stones and requires continuous medical treatment and care.

Currently, my wife, my mother, my younger brother, and I are living together in one rented room that costs us $700 per month. This rent places an enormous financial burden on us, especially while we are also struggling to afford food, medicine, and other basic necessities.

Every day brings new challenges. We struggle to secure food, clean water, medicine, vitamins, and other essential needs while living in constant fear and uncertainty. I also care for my cat Lulu and my little son Jamal, and I am doing everything I can to keep everyone safe.

Our goal in raising funds is not only to survive from one day to the next or to pay for food and rent. Our greatest hope is to raise enough money to evacuate from the Gaza Strip and reach a safe place where my family can live with dignity, my wife can continue her pregnancy safely, my mother can receive the medical treatment she needs, and we can begin rebuilding our lives away from fear and suffering.

I am asking for your support during this extremely difficult time. Every donation, no matter how small, can help us afford food, rent, medicine, vitamins, and other basic necessities, while also contributing toward the cost of evacuating my family from Gaza.

If you are unable to donate, sharing our story can also help us reach someone who can. Your support gives my family hope and brings us one step closer to safety.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your compassion, kindness, and support.


You can follow Sharif and Lulu on Twitter and communicate with him at @Sharif30Jamal.

 If you wish to donate (even $5 helps and even $1 helps), you can do so safely through Chuffed:  SHARIF AND LULU THE CAT’S SURVIVAL FUND | Chuffed | Non-profit charity and social enterprise fundraising (organized by Claire Alexander)



Please share the story of Sharif and Lulu!

This post continues a weekly Caturday series, Cats and Their People: Stories from Conflict Zones. Each installment will follow one person and their animals — in Afghanistan, Gaza, Israel, Syria, Ukraine, or wherever survival has become a daily act of devotion. Every story is told with the owner’s request to share. The aim is simple: to bring humanity into places where life has been stripped to its barest essentials, and to show how people and animals hold on together. When appropriate, each post will include ways readers can support the individuals featured.


MSI Press, a veteran-owned publishing house based in California, United States
best known for turning new writers into award-winning authors,
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally. Check us out on Wikitia.


To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,

use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore;

for free shipping, use code ship4free.

(Codes cannot be used together; they are meant to provide a choice of discount.)



Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.


VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES AND TO FOLLOW US ON OUR VARIOUS PLATFORMS.


CONTACT INFO@MSIPRESS.COM TO SBUMIT A BOOK PROPOSAL/MAMUSCRIPT OR TO CONTACT ONE OF OUR AUTHORS.



Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content
(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)

Check out recent issues.


 

   

MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Post from Dr. Dennis Ortman: Words Matter

Image
  WORDS MATTER “If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging symbol.” --I Corinthians 13: 1   My three brothers recently visited from afar. We spent a week together crammed into my small apartment. We exhausted ourselves talking about our lives and our favorite subjects--religion, psychology, and politics. I daily used up my quota of words. Many family and friends avoid talking about these subjects to avoid conflict. But we relish the give-and-take of debate. Coincidentally, the Republican National Convention was televised each night. We watched it diligently and exchanged views. Our convictions ranged across the political spectrum. So our conversations were animated, our disagreements passionate. However, at the end of the week, we learned something from each other and parted friends. Words matter. They have power. Our traditions attest to this fact. For example, God created the world with His word. He be...
Read more

Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning: Language Islands, A Shortcut to Language Fluency

Image
  If you've ever found yourself struggling mid-conversation in another language, desperately searching for words, translating in your head, and praying for a merciful topic change… you’re not alone. We've all been there. But today’s tip might just change the way you approach language learning — and save your dignity at the next international gathering. Let’s talk about language islands . What Are Language Islands? Back in the mid-1980s, Boris Shekhtman, a brilliant and wildly successful instructor at the Foreign Service Institute (and later the Specialized Language Training Center), coined the term “language islands.” His students — diplomats, international journalists, and world travelers — swore by his methods. And no wonder. A language island is a memorized chunk of speech — a little monologue, a practiced story, a polished opinion — that you know so well, you can say it without thinking. No mental translation. No stuttering. No panicked flailing for vocabulary. Just smooth...
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: De-confusing Royalty Structure

Image
  Authors frequently confuse LIST and NET and, in this way, end up with contracts that pay lower royalties when they believe that they are getting a good deal. Often, they cannot negotiate in ways that benefit themselves because they do not understand this difference and its significance. Let's break this down. List refers to the retail price of the book. Payment on list means a percentage of the retail price of the book. If royalties are 8% of list (5-8% is typical), then on a $10 book, royalties would be 80 cents; if they are 10%, royalties are $1, on every book sold. Easy to calculate, easy to predict income, and always standardized, no surprises or overestimations. Net refers to what is leftover after expenses. Gross revenue gets adjusted by a number of expenses: printing costs, printer set-up fees, shipping costs, handling fees, distributor percentage of sales (typically, 40%-55% per book), distributors' initial and continuing catalogue listing costs (without which online ...
Read more