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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Johana Bhuiyan

‘We have no choice’: Gazan workers find a lifeline in freelancing amid war

Gaza Internet Electricity Israel Upwork Paltel
An illustration shows concerned-looking people huddled around computers in a blue and yellow co-working space with a
‘When I got back to work, my psychological health got better,’ said Waleed Iky, a freelance entrepreneur. Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

It took more than 20 minutes and eight dropped WhatsApp calls to finally connect with Farida Algoul in Gaza. Internet service is not reliable anywhere in the territory, including in the provisional co-working space in the city of Deir al-Balah, where she and 50 or so others work remotely.

An English teacher by training, Algoul splits her time between a makeshift classroom in a tent, where she teaches for free, and a table in this cafe turned workspace where she translates documents from Arabic to English. Over the grainy video call, other freelancers who had been forcibly displaced to the central Gazan city could be seen working alongside her, all of them vying for the coveted internet connection.

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