Meet Saleh Alkhadi - Student and Survivor

Brief Authors note: Saleh is one of the people that the Elham Fund supports. He is sixteen years old but he writes with the soul of a man who has lived a full and haunting life.

As an American high school teacher I am always amazed by two things; by the fact that the students of Gaza write English with greater fluidity and grace than I can and their unrelenting hunger for education. I have never met a group of people more eager to learn than the people of Palestine.

Below we are presenting you the words of Saleh - if you want to follow his work please find him on Instagram @saleh.alkhaldi.4228

Saleh is not allowed to show any image of himself or his family. We obviously honor and respect that decision and would never want to put him and his family at risk. So instead we will put up images related to what he shared.

I am Saleh, a 16-year-old. Before the war, I used to help my father at work while also excelling in school. I was a top student and achieved an average score of 99.88% in my last academic year. Despite the hardships caused by the blockade, I always tried to live a normal life full of ambition and hope.

Life wasn’t easy, but it was filled with beautiful moments that I still hold on to. Shortly before the war, I participated in a competition organized by "The Hands Up Project" and won. The prize was a four-day trip to the West Bank, which truly felt like a dream.

For the first time, I experienced a sense of freedom, enjoyed seeing new places, and got a glimpse of a different life. That trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I never imagined that this beautiful dream would turn into a nightmare so quickly.

Only two months after the trip, the war erupted, and everything changed overnight. Our home was damaged by airstrikes, and we were forced to flee multiple times, moving from place to place in search of safety. The experience of displacement was harsh and grueling, but it taught me a lot about patience and endurance. After a long period of moving around and suffering, we finally managed to return to our home, but it was no longer the same—just like everything else in our lives.

The war profoundly impacted my extended family. My two older brothers, who are married, lost their homes completely to the bombings and had to start from scratch. Even my married sisters’ homes were destroyed. Amidst all this loss and destruction, I discovered a lot about myself. During the war, I started writing as a way to express my feelings, and I realized that writing had become an outlet to release all the emotions bottled up inside me. I also discovered a talent for drawing, though it needs practice and development—something I struggle to pursue now because I’m busy helping my family and father manage our daily life.

One of the biggest losses I faced was in my education. Due to displacement and instability, I lost an entire academic year, and there’s a possibility I might lose another. Nevertheless, I am trying to hold on to hope, believing that art and writing can be tools to express our suffering and share our story with the world. The war has changed my life entirely, but it also revealed new aspects of myself. I’ve come to realize that words and art can serve as a path to resilience amidst all this pain.

This is my story, but it is not the end. It is just a chapter in a book whose upcoming pages have yet to be written. Despite the pain and losses, there is still hope on the horizon, and a future awaits for me to continue the tale. Perhaps the coming chapters will be more beautiful, perhaps they will bring dreams to life, and a reality that I can rebuild. The story continues, and I am the writer who will one day pen its ending.