we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Alaa Mahdi Kudaih

  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora
  • Belgium

Alaa Mahdi Kudaih is a Gazan photographer and content creator. In 2018, she won a full scholarship from the Turkish government to study psychological counseling and guidance, and she graduated from Sakarya University in 2023. She recently moved to live in Belgium after getting an Erasmus+ Traineeship in Psychology.

Alaa is a founder of “Dmma Therapy,” which aims to share and publish information that promotes awareness about mental health. She conducts psychological counseling sessions in Turkish, English, and Arabic, both face to face and online. She likes to quote Gandhi: “Be the change that you want to see in the world,” and believes that mental health is essential for anyone who wants to change the world.

Current as of March 2024

Alaa Mahdi Kudaih

my work

Again, it is December / Second December / Without stars.
A year of fear / A year of sleeplessness /  A year of breathlessness  / A year of loss
‘Shahad and I always loved clarity; if she could now explain her fate to me, she would not hesitate to do so.’
A young son’s strong attachment to his mother cannot protect him from the violence of Israel’s bombs on Gaza.
A young man and his family, seeking to escape death in north Gaza, meet death on the road.
His dreams were killed by the occupation, but his spirit lives on.