Qusay – Gaza Cleaner
When we asked Qusay about his story, he smiled and said it might be “the strangest first day of work.”
On January 6, our local partner in Gaza sent a message to sanitation workers confirming the re-launch of our solid waste collection project in Gaza City, with work set to begin the following day. One of the workers, however, asked for leave before even starting.
Qusay stood between two beginnings. His first day on the job, and the birth of a daughter he had waited more than twelve years for. Without hesitation, he chose to be his wife and his babygirl.
Qusay told us when his wife asked him, “You won’t leave me, will you?”
He replied instantly that he would stay by her side in the hospital and would not leave her, no matter what.
Qusay is a caring father of two sons, Mohammad, 15, and Yousef, 14. He had always hoped his next child would be a girl. For years, they tried to have another child, but with no success.
Then, in the middle of the brutal genocide and inhumane illegal siege, his wife became pregnant again. His heart filled with joy, but it was shadowed by a fear that did not ease through hunger, displacement, and bombardment, until she gave birth safely.
On January 7, at 6:30 in the morning, Sarah was born.
“Sarah is the light of my life,” he says.
Today, Qusay works as part of the solid waste collection team in Gaza City, helping restore cleanliness and essential services in areas where Israeli forces have destroyed the infrastructure, forcibly displaced Palestinians, and imposed inhumane conditions that severely restrict access to basic waste management services.
Like many in Gaza, Qusay experienced the horrible ugliness of Israeli forced displacement. He remembers leaving his home with his family, walking for hours with only a few belongings, believing they would return within days.
MECA – Waste Management Workers
Now he returns to the same streets he left but in a different role. Each day of work is part of a broader effort to restore a basic sense of dignity and the possibility of daily normal life in a city where so much has changed.
Qusay is one of many workers who show up each day to clean the city, each carrying a story like this. A story that holds a father, a brother, a son, a husband, a human being holding on to life amid an ongoing genocide and brutal blockade.
MECA’s garbage collection project employs more than 70 workers. It provides them and their families with a source of income. This work helps limit the spread of disease and supports a basic level of dignity for displaced Palestinians in densely populated displacement camp settings.
Without sustained and safe waste disposal systems, which remain severely constrained by the Israeli blockade, untreated waste continues to accumulate, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and contaminating water sources, food systems, and soil in Gaza. Recently rodent infestations have put children and families at risk as the tents don’t protect them.
For Qusay, Sarah may never see Gaza as he once knew it. She may grow up in a different reality, in tents or temporary schools, if rebuilding does not take place and Israel is not forced into lifting the inhumane blockade. Still, each day, he does his part to create a cleaner, more beautiful and stable environment for his daughter and for other children growing up in Gaza.
