My Experience Buying eSIMs for Gaza by Maia Kobabe
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Full transcript below the cut:
Cover:
My Experience Buying eSIMs for Gaza
Project organized by @ connectinghumanity_
by Maia Kobabe @redgoldsparks
Page 1
In Fall 2023, I saw instructions on instagram for how to purchase an 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 [email protected]
Image of Maia looking at eir phone. “That sounds easy, I’ll buy one.”
I emailed an Airalo eSIM QR code to gazaesims on Nov 17 2023.
Page 2
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.
Image of Maia looking at eir phone. “How long does this usually take, I wonder?”
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.
Page 3
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
Page 4
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 and the horrific situations they are in. ~Connecting Gaza
By early April, my first Nomad eSIM expired unused. I resubmitted my three remaining eSIMs.
Page 5
Suddenly, two of my eSIMs were activated on the same day! The Airalo I’d purchased 4.5 months earlier and my second Nomad.
Image of Maia looking happy and surprised.
Image of Maia looking very intensely at eir phone. “I have to make sure these don’t run out!”
I began buying top-up packages immediately.
Page 6
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.
Image of Maia with a watering can labeled “data”, sprinkling water on two little sprouts. “Watering my eSIMs!”
Sadly, only .07 GB of data was ever used on my Nomad. It was never used again after that first day.
Page 7
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.
Image of two hands holding a phone, which is connected to a flying kite.
Page 8
On April 5, 2024 Connecting Humanity reported they had sent more than 250,000 eSIMs to Gaza, equivalent to approximately $6.3 million donated! You can 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, the Cartoonist Coop is doing art rewards. Visit cartoonist.coop/esims4gaza
Page 9
Image of Maia, weighing two options. “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 Operation Olive Branch and Gazafunds, two places to find Gofundmes aiding Palestinian families.
gazafunds.com
@ operationolivebranch on insta
linktr.ee/opolivebranch
-Maia Kobabe 2024