My Experience Buying eSIMs for Gaza

By
Maia Kobabe
My Experience Buying eSIMs for Gaza, project organized by @connectinghumanity_
In Fall 2023, I saw instructions on instagram for how to purchase a eSIM card and submit it to be distributed to someone in Gaza. Download an eSIM app-> Select Middle East as the region-> Purchase-> Screenshot the QR code-> Do not activate-> send to gazaesims@gmail.com. I emailed an Airalo eSIM QR code to gazaesims on Nov 17 2023.
By January 2024, it hadn’t been activated yet. I bought a second one from Nomad and sent my new QR code and resubmitted my old one. By February neither had been activated, but Connecting Humanity kept posting about needing more. I bought a second Nomad and resubmitted all of them on February 15, 2024.
The Nomad eSIMs are much cheaper than Airalo, but what I didn’t realize is that they expire even if they haven’t been activated. At the end of February I decided to try a third company, Simly. Here’s a price comparison: AIRALO: $39 USD for 3GB, never expires SIMLY: $22 USD for 3GB, never expires NOMAD: $16 USD for 3GB, expires after 8 weeks even if unused, only offers in-app refunds
Connecting Humanity asks folks to wait at least 3 weeks before resending a QR code that hasn’t been activated yet. On March 7 Mirna Elhelbawi posted: We send EVERY esim we receive. Bear in mind that we are dealing with people at a war zone. They might take it and get killed before activating it, they might take it and their phone gets lost or destroyed. They might take it and search for days for stable internet connection to activate it, and some of them activate it unsuccessfully due to lack of knowledge a
Suddenly, two of my eSIMs were activated on the same day! The Airalo I’d purchased 4.5 months earlier and my second Nomad. I began buying top-up packages immediately. (transcript continued in comments) #esimsforgaza #esimsforpalestine #connectinghumanity
I felt like I had planted a seed in the fall and waited all winter for it to sprout. Seeing it activated was like watching the first new leaves break the soil. Sadly, only .07 GB of data was ever used on my Nomad. It was never used again after that first day.
But my Airalo has been in constant use for over a month now. I check on it every day. I will never know the person I am buying data for and they will never know me. But we are connected by the same strings of hope and grief that connect us all.
On April 5, 2024 Connecting Humanity reported they had sent more than 250,000 eSIMs to Gaza, equivalent to approximately $6.3 million donated! Visit gazaesims.com for more info, instructions, and discounts. Here are my referral codes: MAIA5367 for $3 off Airalo MB772 for $3 off Simly MAIA66GF for $3 off Nomad If you need more incentive, @cartoonistcoop is doing art rewards. Visit cartoonist.coop/esims4gaza
Buying an eSIM is easy and can make a very direct impact. It can also take a lot of patience and could get expensive over time if you commit to keeping the eSIM topped up indefinitely. If an immediate one time donation is more your speed, I recommend @operationolivebranch and gazafunds.com, two places to find Gofundmes aiding Palestinian families.