In her late teens, her family introduced her to my grandpa. A young Gazan man from a good family with a good job.....in Saudi Arabia. In the 50s & 60s, the gulf countries were booming. Oil industry had picked up. Jobs were plentiful. And my grandpa was a man of opportunity. 15/

He moved to Saudi Arabia with my grandma, where he worked in sheet metal & other trades, and she opened up her very own business! A stitching and embroidery shop that became so popular with local Saudi women that she could barely keep up with the demand from clients! 😊 16/

In the mid-60s, when my grandpa tried to renew his Palestinian passport, he was denied. War, displacement & catastrophes persisted in all of Palestine. Israel exerted its power & began to take away the independence of Palestinians. It also began banning their return. 17/

Instead, my grandpa was given a refugee travel document from neighboring Egypt. Several countries, including Lebanon, Egypt, Syria & Iraq began issuing these documents to displaced Palestinians. They were meant to be a temporary measure until Palestinians could return...... 18/

My grandpa, a man who loved travel & adventure, heard of another opportunity in Qatar. My grandma agreed to the move. They relocated, now with a family in tow. They worked hard & made a home in Qatar. They sent my dad to University in Egypt to earn an Engineering degree. 19/

In Egypt, my dad fell in love with a beautiful Alexandrian woman...my mother. 🥰 He married her in his final year of studies & moved with her back to Qatar, where he became a partner at an engineering firm. They started a family & did their best to integrate in the gulf. 20/

Fast forward to the late 80s.... a very important era in this story. Yours truly, Ortho PA, was born at Doha General Hospital on a calm and very ordinary Wednesday.😅 I have always been an attentive & curious girl. I would watch the world around me & take in the happenings. 21/

I listened as my family talked about horrors unfolding in Palestine. I memorized songs about our beautiful homeland that my dad would play in the car. I saw the atrocities on the news. I heard my dad weep in the middle of the night watching footage of massacred families.💔22/

Remember how I told you my grandpa was a man of opportunity? This time, he had heard that they were issuing passports to immigrants in the US. The Egyptian refugee document was barely good for anything. And Palestinians were never allowed to claim citizenship in the gulf... 23/

And so, he set off to America. Eventually, my dad wanted to follow to North America to give us better opportunities and a sense of belonging through citizenship. We got selected through education & income points to immigrate to...Canada. 24/

And that little girl who watched her father weep over his people...has never forgotten. Now, I am a wise, strong & capable woman. The internet helped me connect to my family. I know them all by name. I care about every single one of them. And I'll never abandon them... 26/

As I watch the massacres & genocide of my people, my family, my loved ones.. before my eyes... As I recall every detail of my grandma's story and the horrors inflicted on the people of her town... I will never forget. And I promise...I will never give up on my people. 27/27