A Cry for Help: My Family is Drowning in Pain and Despair, Please Help Us🙏
To every compassionate heart, to everyone who understands the meaning of mercy and humanity😭,
I write to you today with a heavy heart, struggling to find the words to describe what we are going through. Our lives have become a constant stream of pain and loss. We were barely surviving before, but today, everything has become even harder and crueler.
My mother, a woman who has never broken despite everything we've endured, sits by the fire every day to bake bread for us. We have no gas, no comforts, just fire and flour. With her tired hands, she feeds my sister’s children, and despite everything, she smiles at them, hiding her pain. That fire is all the warmth we have left.
Then the storm came, and it washed away our humble tent. The shelter that once protected us from the rain and cold is now a pool of water. My mother, my sisters, their children, and I, we all stand in the mud, looking for hope in each other’s eyes, but everything feels lost.
My little son, Hamoud, only 17 months old, doesn't understand why he can’t play anymore. He doesn’t know why everything around him is wet and cold. How can I explain to him that we’ve lost everything? How can I tell him that the world, which should have provided him safety, has abandoned us?
I write to you today, holding onto a small thread of hope, praying that you can be our support. We desperately need your help. Our lives are at risk, and our children are in danger. Your donation could save their lives, could restore our belief that someone still hears our cries. You are the lifeline we are waiting for.
With a heart that can no longer bear more pain, I beg you, please don’t leave us alone in this darkness. We need a new shelter, a roof to protect our children from this harsh cold. Every donation, no matter how small, is a new life for us and our children.
qinter scribble + winter and snowfall. winter's cover art makes him look like he has a big nose bc of the angle he was drawn at, so in my heart he does, in fact, have a big nose.
snowfall is bigger, stronger, spikier, and all together more of a model icewing than winter is, and they dont look all that similar until they both make a >:( face and you go "oh yeah thats genetic" LMAO
If you know you're one of us who gets depressed (or just feel more tired/fatigued/like everything is harder) as we head into winter please consider:
- light therapy, aka getting a really bright lamp, made for people with S.A.D. and using it for 30 to 45 minutes every day in the morning. (In studies this has been shown to be as effective as therapy or medication for treating S.A.D. AND it works for normal straight up depression too!)
- CBT specifically for S.A.D.
- Getting on a antidepressant seasonally
Additionally, you may find these suggestions helpful for general quality of life:
- get a sunrise simulator alarm clock if you have to wake up before dawn
- getting movement outside in bright, early morning light if possible
- increase exercise & make sure you're getting enough sleep
- taking a vitamin D supplement, because a lot of folks in the US are moderately deficient . If you don't have enough vitamin D, it can make you depressed (and make you fatigued, and make your bones and muscles ache), and vitamin D deficiency rates go up in the winter.
Good luck. It's a real thing and it sucks, but there are things we can do to reduce its effects.
It's that time of year I talk about work outside of work. I give money advice to people on a low income (in the UK so I can't help with other countries unfortunately, but I can give general information and guidance).
It's getting colder, and energy bills are still quite high. For those in the UK you'll be familiar with Martin Lewis, for those outside of the UK he's a public figure who gives general money advice to the masses without it costing an arm and a leg.
Oh his website he has a guide on heating the human, not the home. Ways to save money on energy bills when it comes to it. While it's UK centric there's some good tips to help others as well.
I always find it important to share this time of year. Stay warm friends ❤️