“If the war ends, I’ll cry—because I survived by chance.”
In this moving instalment of Women of Resistance, host Sakina Datoo introduces us to Mai Zaki Abdel Hamid, a 23-year-old law graduate from Gaza who has endured four wars in her short life—and emerged with a sense of purpose that no bomb could destroy.
Mai’s story is anchored in memory and belonging. Her father, who passed away in 2011, left her a legacy not of wealth, but of responsibility: a call to reclaim their ancestral home in Ashdod, seized during the Nakba.
“You have a house,” he told her. “You must go and get it.”
Since then, that house has become a symbol—not just of land, but of rootedness, dignity, and defiance.
“We grew up on the idea that this land belongs to us,” Mai says. “We can’t leave it. We have to love it.”
Her story is one of contradictions—between youth and trauma, dreams and despair. After graduating with a degree in law, Mai planned to pursue a master’s in diplomatic relations. She wanted to speak for Palestine. But the war changed everything.
“Now I can’t even imagine leaving,” she admits. “Not when everything is burning.”
And yet, she acts. As Gaza was pummelled, Mai coordinated youth relief campaigns, hosted support sessions for children, baked cookies to distribute in shelters, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with women shattered by grief. Even after displacement, she picked up where she left off—starting again in Deir el-Balah with nothing but a will to continue.
“I won’t let the eviction stop me from leaving a mark,” she says.
In the studio, Sakina is joined by Ali Azam, co-founder of the Virtues Ethics Foundation. He reflects on Mai’s strength as a living challenge to the moral collapse of global leadership.
“Her story,” he says, “is heartbreaking—but also heart-enriching. It shows what resilience, ethics, and faith look like under fire.”
Mai speaks quietly—but every word lands with weight. She is the voice of a generation that has grown up among ruins and refused to be reduced by them.
“My message to the world? See us. Just see us.”
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