Fundraiser aims to help evacuate Palestinian theatre artist's family from Gaza
On April 13, Massy Books will donate 100 percent of its profits to the refugee-claimant advocate and The Only Animal associate
Palestinian theatre artist Mohammed Zaqout (left) with his family.
A FUNDRAISER IS UNDER WAY for Palestinian refugee Mohammed Zaqout, a theatre artist with Vancouver’s The Only Animal and advocate for refugee claimants, to evacuate his family from war-torn Gaza.
Zaqout’s refugee-claimant background led him to partake in The Only Animal’s Artist Brigade in 2022, a project that brought together a cohort of 100 artists for a year of learning about the climate crisis; the artists then translated their findings into climate-action art pitches. Zaqout conceptualized a work titled GROWING ROOTS: Art for belonging with Cathy Stubington, which was then commissioned by The Only Animal. The 2023 production engaged refugee claimants with the natural world through storytelling, poetry, memoir, art, and Indigenous history.
The eldest of five siblings, Zaqout has been living in Canada since 2019, partaking in three Refugee Livelihood Lab programs at RADIUS, an SFU Beedie School of Business initiative, and working at Kinbrace Community Society, a provider of housing and support for refugee claimants in B.C.
The campaign is seeking to raise $102,500 to fund the evacuation and reunification of the Zaqout family in Canada, covering costs including expenses for visas, exiting the Gaza border, flights, housing, and more. To help reach the fundraising goal, Vancouver’s Massy Books (229 East Georgia Street) will be donating 100 percent of both online and in-store book sale profits earned on April 13 to Zaqout’s family.
On the GoFundMe page created to help Zaqout, he writes: “My family has lost everything. Our home was completely destroyed in an air strike in October. My family is alive but escaped with only the clothes they were wearing. We have lost all of our belongings, including valuables and some emergency savings. They have been moving around, finding shelter where they can. My little brother was injured by bomb shrapnel due to an explosion by an air strike in a place they thought was safe. My family is now in a tent in Rafah where it is very crowded, there is very little food and it is unsanitary. Gaza is becoming increasingly dangerous and uninhabitable.”
Zaqout’s family has been separated since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October 2023. His mother and three of his brothers are in Gaza, while his father and another of his brothers are in Jordan. Zaqout is currently in Burnaby.
The GoFundMe page was started for Zaqout in February by Florida-based licensed clinical social worker Dixie Allison, whom he met over a decade ago as a high school foreign-exchange student in the U.S.
As of this week, more than $27,000 USD has been raised for Zaqout’s family. If they are unable to make it to Canada, the GoFundMe page says money raised will be used to help them rebuild their life in Gaza. 
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