Albana said that after a long time, she now feels safer. “I’m finally in São Paulo, Brazil. I’m calmer, feeling safer here,” she said.
She said that during this waiting time, many people she knew died. “My house was already bombed, I lost a lot of my family, I lost a lot of friends… I lost a lot of people”, he said with a choked voice.
Despite her relief, she says she feels for her other family members who have not yet left the Gaza Strip. “I want Brazil to help us evacuate the rest of the Brazilians and the rest of our families who are alive, waiting for help to get out of there. There are a lot of people,” he lamented.
Asked if she still dreams of returning to Gaza, Albana cried again.
I wanted to go back, but there’s nothing there anymore… There’s simply no future for that country. Here is a fresh start. I hope it is so.
Shahed Albana
Another to speak to the press, Palestinian naturalized Brazilian Mahumud Abohalu, 40, also left family members in Gaza. “They have a Palestinian passport. And then they need a lot of time to get it,” he said. He arrived with his wife and two children, aged 13 and 12.
