Palestine at Magill (Circle 133) was started by Mohammed Sulaiman to support the visa application process to bring his family members who are trapped in Gaza to safety in Australia. Mohammed is a Palestinian from Gaza who came to Australia 9 years ago to conduct doctoral studies and continued to live and work in Australia post-graduation. He has followed the war on Gaza from outside, overcome by helplessness and feeling unable to take any action to save the lives of his family members from the bloodbath which his family have been forced to live through hoping that no missile will find its way to them.
Following the bombing of many of his family members’ homes and killing of many of his family, he has completed visa applications for his family members despite many of them not having a passport or a travel document, and now all 16 of his family members have been granted their visas to come to Australia. This visa does not permit visitors to work in Australia. In addition, none of his family members have any form of financial access or support since there are hardly any financial services in Gaza at this time. It is unclear if they will have access to their finances anytime soon.
The Circle is undertaking fundraising to assist with cost of visa applications, flights and then living costs in Australia. Please donate now to help bring Mohammed’s family to safety.
Flight tickets alone will cost around $1700 per person. A breakdown of the total amount required to be raised is provided below.
• Visa application fees: $192
• Passport fees: $300
• Document translation: $200
• Flight from Cairo to Adelaide (one way): $1700
Total estimated costs leading up to arrival in Adelaide is $2392 per person, and $38,272 for all 16 family members.
Additionally, as they are not permitted to work under the “Tourist Visa” stream, we estimate the costs of each family’s stay in Australia will include:
• minimum living costs $24,000 per family ($1000 per week and a total of $96,000 for four families including rent over six months).
• personal effects $1500 (a total of $6000 for four families).
• international health insurance $1400 (a total of $5600).
To be able to support his family members, Mohammed must call on people to contribute whatever they can to help me to save the lives of his family members in Gaza.
Any donation you can make will help (Please reference Circle 133 when making your donation). Thank you.