GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's now been four months since the war in Gaza began. This war has an exchange student at UNC-Greensboro trapped in the United States.
It comes as his wife, kids, and family fend for their lives in Gaza.
Salah El Sadi is a Palestinian from Gaza. He was selected to be a part of the UNC-Greensboro Fulbright Exchange program in September.
This program allows students to study, research, and teach abroad.
"I was the only one selected to represent my country of Gaza," said Salah El Sadi. "After one month of training and active participation and attending all courses, I heard about war in my country."
El Sadi said in an instant, he began to worry about his wife, two children, and family who are trapped in Gaza.
"Every minute, every hour, I am thinking about my family, my father, mother, brother, sister, my wife, two kids, I just follow the news because there is no communication, no internet there," he said.
His exchange program was eight weeks long.
It has now been five months and he is still in Greensboro, living in student housing at UNCG.
"All of the other students got to go home, but I can't," he said. "The border is closed."
El Sadi said he misses his family. He only hears from them every five to ten days, as they send simple messages saying they are still alive.
His kids and wife are among the Palestinians displaced from their homes and packed into a city near the border of Egypt.
He said his family is living in tents. They have very little to eat, drink and to keep them warm from the cold weather. They are sleeping on the sand with no mattresses.
"Everything is destroyed," he said. "More than 90 percent of Gaza buildings, universities, schools, and hospitals, it is all destroyed," he said. "I am afraid about my family, my wife, my kids, because they are living in a small tent. The weather is cold now, especially as they sleep in front of the beach. They are sleeping on the sand, there are no mattresses, and nothing is giving them warmth."
He said the water isn't even drinkable either.
"I heard from my sister that they are all drinking water from wastewater," he said. "My kids got sick and there is nothing that they can give them."
He said living safely in his apartment makes him feel guilty.
"When I am living here I feel guilty because everything is simple around me," he said. "I am thinking about my family, my wife, my kids, it's difficult."
El Sadi said he feels stuck. The borders are closed. He can't return to Gaza and it costs $10,000 per person to get his family out.
El Sadi said he's the main supporter of his family, but support isn't something he can do.
His job, as a professor at a university in Gaza, is gone because the school was destroyed in the war.
"This is like a nightmare, how can I wake up from this nightmare," he said.
The Fulbright program is helping pay for his housing at the moment, but he said they are asking that he find a more permanent solution.
"There is not anything for me because my organization told me they cannot continue to support me if I stay here for a long time," he said. "They said I need to find a solution. This is my first experience here, I don't have any relationship or information with whom I can talk and I hear about asylum but asylum takes a long time and prevents me from going back to my home country. I need someone to talk with me, how they can help me to find a job, to work, and I am active."
El Sadi said that he started a GoFundMe to raise money to support his family and work to bring them safely back to the United States.
He said if he could bring his family back to safety, then he would begin helping others get to safety too.