In a heartwarming situation that has emerged on sical media, a 10-year-old influencer from Gaza named Renad Ataullah from Deir el-Balah is inspiring many through her social media videos. With more than 800,000 followers on Instagram, Renad regularly posts cookery videos amidst the adverse conditions of the refugees in the war-struck Gaza. Her infectious smile, resilience and innocence sends waves of hope across her following in the same camp and across the globe.
More about 'Chef Renad'
There is a reason why childhood is the most innocent time of an individual's life. With a life yet not experienced, children dream of racing through galaxies. 10-year-old Renad, instead of highlighting the dangerous circumstances children of Gaza are going through, decided to cheer herself and her followers on Instagram by making cookery videos.
She makes delicacies that are rich in Gazan culture and shares the recipe in detail via her videos. What's even more interesting is, Renad cooks her recipes on a stove, outside a tent in the refugee camp! This fierce personality of this girl caught netizens' attention.
If everything in the world had been right, Renad would be attending her 5th grade now. She mentioned in one of her captions how she is packing packets of food that is donated to the refugee camps by people across the world. "Never thought that at the age of 10, I would be packing bags of food to support my neighbours and families and children of. I imagined being in school, learning new things, playing sports," mentioned one of her posts.
What inspired Renad to cook?
While talking to Aljazeera, Renad said that she always loved cooking. Even before the war broke out, she would watch cooking videos passionately and try out new recipes. After the war began and they were moved to refugee camps with her mother and sisters, she began cooking with whatever ingredients were available to her, often from aid boxes and dried goods and canned food.
Renad is currently a part of the referee camp and is crammed there with her sister, mother and other affected in a single house in Deir el-Balah, which is a major area for Irareali force's bomb attacks. “I became famous by accident!” she told Aljazeera.
How Renad manages cooking and making videos on Instagram?
Renad's elder sister, Nourhan Ataullah is 25 and is a Pharmacist. She is the one who manages the content that goes online on Renad's Instagram. She makes sure that everything that Renad posts only encourages other children and elders to watch it in their territory. She makes sure she does not upset people who have little to no access to food in the camps.
While talking o the media organisation, both sisters expressed how difficult it was during the initial days of the camp, When the war had just begun. They recalled how all the vegetable sources, bakeries had been bombed and they functioned only of a few loaf's of bread.
Nourhan shared how people adapted to the situation very quickly. “Everybody would bake in a mud oven and divide the bread. We are a family of 10. If there are 20 pieces of bread, each person would have two loaves of bread and for that day you either eat them all at once or eat them throughout the day," she shared.
Renad's videos are not only an inspiration for the children living in the war affected areas as her's but also for the world. She encourages, educates and serves life hacks through the power of social media.
