Grassroots Community Network
Donkeysaddle’s Grassroots Community Network is comprised of the families that Donkeysaddle Projects profiles through our documentation projects, in Gaza and beyond.
Our Model
At Donkeysaddle Projects, we do not believe in “hit and run storytelling.” The success of our work depends on trust with the communities whose stories we are telling, and therefore, long term commitments to individuals and families who partner and work with us is necessary. For this reason, many of the families who collaborate with us in our documentation work, or team members that worked with us to tell those stories, receive ongoing stipends. These stipends cover participants’/workers’ time and energy for filming and interviewing with us, as well as fact-checking the media, promoting the projects, speaking at events (virtual or in real life), introducing us to others in their community for future projects, and more.
Many of these families live in Gaza or other areas of crisis, and these stipends are, quite literally, a lifeline for them.
Learn more about some of these families, and Donkeysaddle’s media projects about them
Awajah family
Donkeysaddle released One Family in Gaza in 2011, about the Awajah family whose child was killed and home destroyed. They were featured in Donkeysaddle’s 2014 follow-up article and film, No Exit in Gaza, as well as in the 2015 feature article for the Nation, Gaza’s Mental Health Crisis and the Trauma of Permanent War. They are also featured in +972 Magazine’s Celebrating Eid in Gaza amidst the rubble of war. Donkeysaddle continued to film with the Awajah family, featuring them in the 2019 short film: Remembering the Gaza War: Ibrahim’s Tree. The Awajah family has continued to endure devastating losses. Kamal (the father of family) died in the summer of 2023. Their home was destroyed for the third time in October 2023, and the Israeli military killed two of Wafaa’s (the mother of the family) daughters. The family has been bouncing back and forth between Rafah in the south and Nusseirat in the middle area of Gaza Strip, desperately trying to find safety.
Abu Kash family
In 2015, Donkeysaddle founder Jen Marlowe and Fadi Abushammala (our team member from Gaza) were reporting about the sanitation and water crisis in Gaza for Al Jazeera America. A farmer we interviewed handed us a photo of his six-year old little boy Abdallah, with a rare lung disease, asking: could we help his little boy? Donkeysaddle began documenting the ordeal that parents with sick children in Gaza experience when trying to get medical care for their children, with a focus on Abdallah’s story, especially after the Israeli military began to deny Abdallah the permits they required to continue treatment in a hospital in Tel Aviv. Motivated by Abdallah's crisis, in 2019 Jen began writing an article about children (including Abdallah) who need medical care, but are denied permission to leave Gaza by the Israeli military. (Permission Denied: Gaza Children Struggle to Get Medical Care.) In October 2024, Abdallah and his family were displaced from the middle area to southern Gaza, where they are living in a small shack. The medicine for Abdallah’s lung disease is currently unavailable in Gaza and he was struggling to breathe. We managed to get several months of Abdallah’s medication into Gaza and his breathing has improved greatly.
Mohamad Saleh
The reporting about Abdallah led DSP to Mohamad Saleh, a 12-year old boy who was shot in the knee by an Israeli sniper, severing his main nerve. For six months, the Israeli military denied Mohamad a permit to travel to Jerusalem for extremely time-sensitive nerve transplant surgery. Ultimately, Mohamed’s leg was amputated in 2021. Mohamad’s sister and her children were killed in an airstrike in October 2023 and his home was destroyed. His amputated limb was causing him excruciating pain, as he wasn’t able to receive the follow-up care he needed after another surgery in September 2023. Mohamad and his mother evacuated to Egypt in May 2024, where he has endured several more surgeries. Donkeysaddle featured Mohamad in the 2019 article Permission Denied: Gaza Children Struggle to Get Medical Care and accompanying documentary film, To Treat Kids Like Me. He is also the protagonist and co-producer of our 2025 documentary film, Severed. In addition, Mohamad Saleh has been an intern for Donkeysaddle Projects since July 2024.
Al Hilu family
Donkeysaddle met the Al Hilu family in 2015, just months after their home was destroyed, killing 11 family members. They are featured in Donkeysaddle’s article for the Nation,Gaza’s Mental Health Crisis and the Trauma of Permanent War and the 2019 short documentary, Remembering the Gaza War: A Family Erased.
Munir Al-Dweik
Munir Al-Dweik has been a driver for Donkeysaddle Projects in Gaza since 2004. He and his family has also been featured in Donkeysaddle’s 2019 article for Mondoweiss, One Friday in Gaza.
Ismail Haggar Jogle Sharif
Donkeysaddle Projects founder Jen Marlowe first met Ismail Sharif in 2004, when she was in northern Darfur filming for “Darfur Diaries: Message from Home” which grew also into the 2006 book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. Ismail was the main translator and fixer for the film team.
These are just some of the families who have worked with/partnered with Donkeysaddle Projects. For more information, please contact jen@donkeysaddle.org.
To contribute to Donkeysaddle’s efforts to provide them with stipends, consider making a contribution to the Grassroots Community Network.
Donkeysaddle Projects is an LLC. Contributions are not tax deductible.
