A single mother of eight trying to keep her family alive

Mahasin al-Zaneen, 39, describes herself as “a burning candle that lights the way for others.”

Her husband, a school principal, died of COVID in 2021. She and her eight children have been displaced 10 times since the war began. Their home was reduced to rubble by an Israeli airstrike. But what’s on her mind now is food.

Her daughters feel dizzy. One daughter lost teeth because she doesn't have enough calcium. Her eldest daughter, Rana, a 20-year-old medical student before the war, weighs under 90 pounds. 

Some days, a charity kitchen gives them lentils and they get water from a truck that comes by every morning. 

Water for breakfast, lentils for lunch - some days, water for dinner. This, says Mahasin, is their life. 

More information: NPR (A report broadcast on All Things Considered, June 5, 2025)