Life for Relief and Development’s humanitarian song, “60,000 Orphans in Gaza,” has gone viral across social media, attracting millions of views in the United States, all over the world. In this interview, Dr. Hany Saqr, CEO of Life for Relief and Development (LIFE), discusses the inspiration behind the song, the realities facing Gaza’s orphaned children and LIFE’s ongoing efforts to provide them with care and support.
Hello Dr. Hany, welcome to WorldAuthors.org! Can you introduce Life for Relief and Development and the work the organization does around the world?
Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) is a global humanitarian organization that has been serving people affected by poverty, conflict and disaster since 1992. Over the past three decades, LIFE has delivered more than $667 million in humanitarian aid across more than 60 countries.
Our work ranges from emergency food, clean water and medical assistance to longer-term programs in education, orphan support and community development. At the heart of that work is a simple belief: human suffering deserves a response, regardless of a person’s race, religion or cultural background.
That mission often takes LIFE into communities experiencing some of the world’s most difficult humanitarian crises, including Gaza, where our teams continue to provide essential assistance to children and families.
LIFE recently released 60,000 Orphans in Gaza. What inspired the organization to create this song?
The song was inspired by the scale of Gaza’s orphan crisis and the need to find a different way to communicate what those numbers actually represent. When we hear statistics like 60,000 children, it can be difficult to comprehend the individual lives behind them. Each number represents a child who has experienced the loss of a parent while also living through displacement, hunger, interrupted education and tremendous uncertainty.
LIFE wanted to use music to create a more human connection to that reality. Facts and statistics are important, but art can sometimes reach people emotionally in a way that information alone cannot. 60,000 Orphans in Gaza was created to encourage people to pause, think about the children behind the number and, ultimately, turn that awareness into compassion and action.
What does the song tell us about what it means to be an orphan in Gaza today?
The song captures the world through a child’s perspective: their innocence, their desire to dream and their hope for tomorrow despite the devastation surrounding them. There is also this sense of living entirely in the present, hoping with all their heart that someone will reach out, see them and help.
At the same time, these children are experiencing profound loss, sadness and loneliness without necessarily being able to fully understand what has happened or why. Some are too young to even understand what death means. They simply know that their mother or father is gone, that they miss them and that there is an ache in their hearts where that person used to be.
I think the song holds both of those realities at once: the tremendous grief these children are carrying and the innocence, hope and capacity to dream that still remain.
Is there a particular lyric or moment in 60,000 Orphans in Gaza that you feel captures the heart of its message?
The opening of the song really captures its heart: “There’s a child dreaming tonight, holding on to a little light.”
There is something incredibly powerful about beginning with a child dreaming. Despite everything happening around them, children still have hopes for their futures. They still want to learn, play, feel safe and know that someone cares about them.
The idea of “holding on to a little light” represents that hope. So much has been taken from Gaza’s orphaned children, but the song does not portray them as children without a future. Instead, it asks us to recognize that their dreams are still there and that, with care and support, there can still be light ahead.
LIFE works directly with orphaned children in Gaza. What does that support look like on the ground?
Supporting orphaned children has been an important part of Life for Relief and Development (LIFE)’s work throughout our 33-year history. Today, more than 13,000 orphaned children are sponsored through LIFE around the world, and we have been sponsoring orphans in Gaza since 2019.
As the number of children who have lost parents in Gaza has grown, so has the need for long-term support. LIFE currently sponsors approximately 4,000 orphaned children in Gaza, helping provide greater stability at a time when so much in their lives has been disrupted.
Through LIFE’s Orphan Sponsorship Program, support helps children access essentials such as food, education, healthcare, clothing and other forms of ongoing care. In addition, LIFE provides opportunities that support the whole child, including Global Orphan Parties, which give orphaned children the opportunity to play, celebrate and experience moments of joy while also receiving psychosocial support.
In Gaza, LIFE also supports children’s continued access to education through initiatives such as the Al-Amal Tent School, which was built this past year. The school provides a place for children to continue learning despite the widespread disruption to their education.
The purpose of sponsorship goes beyond meeting immediate needs. It is about creating consistency in a child’s life and helping them continue learning, growing and experiencing childhood despite the tragedy of losing their parents and living in a crisis zone.
What do you hope someone carries with them after listening to 60,000 Orphans in Gaza?
LIFE would like people to carry the thoughts of children of Gaza with them. It can be easy to hear a number like 60,000 and feel overwhelmed by the scale of it, but every one of those children has a name, a personality, memories, dreams and a life that extends far beyond this crisis.
We also hope listeners come away understanding that compassion does not have to end with feeling sad about what is happening. There are ways to reach across borders and remind a child to smile, and to show that there are people in the world who still care about them and their well-being. Whether someone chooses to sponsor an orphan, share the song, learn more or simply keep speaking about the needs of Gaza’s children, those actions matter.
Charity and Humanitarian Aid | Life for Relief and Development