Our Friend Ahmed

I was led to our friend, Ahmed Abuamsha (he also goes by the stage name Ahmed Muin), by a trusted source and family to the proGram (and an important arm to my Burnt Sugar family), Amy. Ahmed is a music teacher at the American School of Gaza and an instructor in guitar playing at Edward Saeed Institute for Music in Gaza. Before the war of 2023 on the Gaza Strip, he used to have a sound recording & producing studio where he used to compose, write lyrics & engineer sound on songs for children, commercials, advertisements for love & popular wedding songs. His studio was designed according to professional specifications and was on the ground floor of his house in the Southern part of Beit Harroun, Northern Gaza. The studio had:
a) Recording room.
b) Control Room.
c) a small salon.

As with any professional studio, it had a lot of valuable equipment. The walls were covered with wavy sponge blaster, double-hard-glass windows, and it had all appropriate and expected jacks, cords & cables, high-quality microphone and iron stands for music notes & headphones. All the things artists anywhere would come to know they need to have in such a facility.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/azP6aF4Wyy2vNS5N/?mibextid=oFDknk (Ahmed going live in his studio)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/7DvQj3zKVVYo5RJ8/?mibextid=oFDknk (Ahmed at Edward Saeed Institute)

His story begins when people received messages on their cellphones ordering them to leave immediately or their lives would be in great danger. Frightened and confused he and his family left everything except the clothes they had on. In the middle of the night where there wasn’t any light but the glow of their cellphones, F-16 fighters bombarded the far side of the city of Beit Hanoun. They were pushing people to move to the south part of the city and the drones were surveying the area hovering over their heads with relentless noise. Constant flashing was blazing the dark horizons of the skies and there were deafening explosions. Ahmed and his family kept moving quickly until they reached the Jabalia Refugee Camp. They found shelter in an UNRWA school, where they slept on the ground, on stairs, wherever they could find a spot. He and his family were 51 people. The next day, their shelter was bombarded by an artillery bomb. Again they ran away, people were screaming with fear and panic as they continued to walk on foot until they arrived at Gaza (Gaza city). There was no place to stay or to find any shelter, so they decided to move to Khan Younis since the Army ordered the people to go beyond Wadi Gaza (South of Gaza Valley). They stayed for 51 days at another UNRWA school. Eventually they left Khan-Younis and were off to Rafah. As of now, however many days it has been, they stay in a plastic and wood tent, facing the ever new, strange and dreadful conditions. Remember, he had nothing with him, so he managed to borrow a Spanish guitar from a friend in Rafah and began playing music & singing with kids to change the mood for people. He started to tour the displaced war-refugee centers, creating an atmosphere of fun & happiness even though the kids are still under this major traumatic situation. Recently he applied for the implementation of a new initiative which he is set up with a group of artists, actors & activators to help kids who bear the psychological agony of war by traveling from camps to camps. Here is one example of his work since starting this endeavor. Please do the needful. When he sits with family & friends in the tent, they recall the happy moments and remember how decent life was. His business was flourishing, people leading normal lives, but now the people cannot help the overwhelming feeling of nothingness. But Ahmed still knows there always a tiny light at the far end of the dark tunnel. Hope always comes with the help of good-hearted people. He and his people have plans to survive and start again.

As we hope this cease fire will last, Ahmed had set up a fund to help rebuild his life back when that light at the end of the tunnel gets brighter and end up shining and warming the lives of his people.

To know more about Ahmed wherever you may be:

https://www.tiktok.com/@ahmedmuin?_t=8kCySYfrBPb&_r=1

https://www.facebook.com/ahmed.abuamsha?mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://youtu.be/PamAm4D3QxY?si=-kzR0TpxLiD8FYDc

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/tqGKJsCoMZ3FsJig/?mibextid=pAjZwd

To try to walk in the shoes of my friend, Ahmed I attempted to do an audio diary with him to make an effort to be with him as he goes through this. Ultimately he had a usual difficult time getting the internet to stay working, his time is limited as in order to survive and help people, the days get full trying to get places on foot. And as you’ll hear, that constant sound of the drones overhead is as invasive as I could imagine from where I am. All I feel like I could do is try and spread his honest and sincere world with others. My shoes can’t even come close to finding a way to walk with him from here. Take a listen below to what it sounds like when he could actually get online to share, the first part if from a little over a week ago and the final clip is from the day of the ceasefire.

misterG ยท Ahmed

Help in you can.

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About grnarrow

Setlist Architect/Art Scene Checker-Outer/Sound Feeler

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