If I forget, remember that even in war, a future can take root

We are in Gaza, in the middle of a war, with no safe place and not even a separate tent of our own. We are living through difficult days filled with fear and displacement, and every day we pray that it will pass safely.  I started from nothing, literally. I went back and completed high school when there were only two months left before the exams. Despite everything I was going through, I passed with an average of 87.4 percent. I got this result last week!  This was the first proof to me that a person can succeed even while living through the most difficult days of their life.  One of the things that changed me for the better was joining the Stronger Women, Stronger Nations programme with Women for Women International. This programme had a significant impact on my life. It empowered me economically and socially, gave me greater confidence in myself, and made me believe that no matter how difficult the beginning may be, there is always an opportunity to build a better life.  I try to create moments of joy for my son in any way I can. I sit and make things for him out of cardboard and the simplest materials around us, and we enjoy them together. They may have been simple things, but they were filled with love. His laughter gives me the strength to keep going.  I keep going for him, for the baby in my belly, and to achieve my dream. I dream of studying journalism and media, building a future I can be proud of, and having my children grow up knowing that their mother never gave up, no matter how difficult the circumstances were.  If  you,  Rania, 30 years after this letter, are living the life you used to dream of, please do not forget these days. Do not forget Gaza, the war, or the nights when we went to sleep without knowing whether we would wake up the next day. Do not forget the fear, the prayers, or the patience that was greater than our lives.  I want to ask you:  Do you now have a home where you feel safe?  Did you achieve your dream and begin working in the field you love?  Did your children grow up proud of you?  Does your laughter today come from a heart that is at peace?  If you now have everything you once wished for, please do not forget the girl who wrote this letter while sitting in the middle of a war, holding on to a hope greater than all the destruction around her.  Today, as I write to you, I may have nothing but my faith, my prayers, and my dream. But perhaps you are now living the life I used to cry while imagining.  If you read this letter one day, hold young Rania close in your heart and tell her, ‘Your struggle was not in vain. Your tears were not in vain. After every night you spent in fear, God had already written that relief would come.’  If there is a grave for anyone we lost in this war, visit it, pray for them, and tell them that we continued on our path and that we did not give up.  If one day you stand in front of the mirror and see a strong, successful, and calm woman, smile at her. She is the same girl who was 21 years old and was fighting the whole world with a heart full of faith.  I love you, Rania.