[Image Description 1: a watercolor painting of Sila, a young Palestinian girl. she is standing, wearing a poofy light orange dress with a pink collar, and purple shoes. she looks slightly to the right with a small smile on her face. the background is light pink.

Image Description 2: the original photograph of Sila. She is standing next to the balcony of the second story of a mall.]

this is Sila, the lovely daughter of Fidaa @fidaa-family2. she is just two years old. this is what Fidaa has told me about her: Sila is very wonderful and very beautiful. she loves to laugh. her laugh is beautiful and everyone loves her. she loves cats very much, and adores dogs; she is not afraid of animals. she loves bathing very much. she loves to eat chicken. she is now deprived of these things because of the war and the destruction of everything that was available to her.

i was honored to be able to paint Sila, and to talk to her wonderful mother. Fidaa is an amazing person; she is so full of love. she is doing everything she can to protect her daughter and her two-month-old baby, Muhammad Amr. he has known nothing but the war — the hunger and thirst, the inescapable heat, the sounds of bombs, the fear.

Fidaa's house has been completely destroyed by the bombs, but we talked about a future in which her family lives in a safe and stable home, that i could send this painting to her for her to keep, and her children could grow up happy. please, help secure that future for them. just five dollars gets them a little closer. please share with everyone you can and donate as much as you are able to, it would mean the world to them.