"My husband said: I no longer mattered when I got sick... My uncle was the reason — may God forgive him.

“When I got sick, he told me I didn’t matter to him anymore. He left me. May God forgive my uncle—he’s the reason it all happened,” says Naila, who was married before turning sixteen. She spent just one year in her husband’s house before he abandoned her. Naila, who lives in a small village northwest of Jerusalem, now stays in a modest home near her ex-husband’s family. The house belongs to the family of a friend who, out of compassion for Naila’s difficult circumstances, has waived the rent. Naila manages to cover the household expenses with limited support from the Ministry of Social Development and the Palestinian Maintenance Fund. Naila—who prefers to be called Laila—shares how her story began with a forced marriage arranged by her family, despite her objections. It was her uncle who insisted on the marriage, wanting to repeat what he considered a "successful" experience with her older sister. "He said I had reached an age where no one would want to marry me," she recalls. Her father played no role in the decision. A year into her marriage, Laila’s health began to deteriorate. “I started treatment, but each doctor prescribed a different medication, which eventually damaged my kidneys.” She was told she needed a kidney transplant, and thanks to her brother, who selflessly donated his kidney, she was given a second chance at life. But at the very start of her illness, her husband abandoned her. Amid her own health crisis and her mother’s illness, Laila was left to raise her daughter alone. The little girl no longer recognizes her father and even screams when she hears his name. She recently asked her schoolteacher not to call her by her father’s last name and removed it from her backpack. When her ex-husband would request to see their daughter, claiming he missed her, Laila later discovered that he would leave the child with another family—who eventually called her to pick up the girl after he failed to return. He even attempted to abduct the child once, but the police intervened and returned the daughter to her mother. Now living under immense economic and medical hardship, Laila explains: “For two years now, I’ve had to eat a special diet and drink purified water so I don’t risk a kidney infection. After the transplant, I avoided meeting people out of fear of catching anything. Even my medication is not always available at government clinics. I usually get it from a kind family I met at the dialysis center—but even they can’t always help.” To cope with her financial struggles, Laila dreams of learning a trade. “I’ve always wanted to take a beauty course. I love doing makeup and cutting hair. Sometimes I do it for friends, and they tell me I’m really good,” she says, her voice filled with hope for a skill that could help her meet her family’s daily needs.