MANILA: For years Gazini Ganados searched for her Palestinian father. In 2019, he saw her in a TV interview, and they reunited. But the reunion was brief — and since 2023, another search has taken her over: finding a way to get him and his family safely out of Gaza.

When Gazini won Miss Universe Philippines 2019, she was featured by Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN. Gazini spoke of her hopes of finding him and shared an old photo from the time he and Gazini’s Filipina mother were together.

He reached out.

“It was a magical moment for me. Life-changing, actually. It was worth more than winning the crown,” Gazini told Arab News. “My whole life I’ve been longing to find my other half, that missing piece of my heart. And then when I finally achieved that, it felt like I was finally complete.”

After clearing travel documents to be able to travel from Gaza, her father flew from Jordan to Cebu City, where Gazini lived with her mother and maternal grandparents.

“That was the first time I met him. And it felt like a dream, to be honest. I was just out of words. And I knew he was my father,” she said.

“He still knew how to speak Tagalog. I toured him around Cebu City, because I don’t think he’s been around Cebu that much. And we came to Manila. He showed me how he met my mother in Malate.”

Since the visit, she has been regularly in touch with her family in Gaza, where she has four younger siblings.

“All my life I wanted to have siblings,” she said. “My stepmother is also very nice.”

But in October 2023, contact became difficult. Israel’s genocidal campaign and siege have since destroyed most of the buildings and infrastructure in the Palestinian territory. Gazini’s father, a dentist, lost his clinic to Israeli bombardment of medical facilities. Electricity and internet access are hardly available.

“Water was cut off, electricity’s cut off,” Gazini said. “Everything, their livelihood, is destroyed. And what else is there? Even their dreams and hopes are shattered every single day.”

She has been trying to help relocate them to safety, which is not an easy process.

“It has to undergo a lot of interventions and approvals from the government of the Philippines, and the Egypt and Palestine Embassy. It’s very draining to think about. But these things that I’m going through are nothing compared to what they’re going through,” she said.

“I’m willing to wait until the end of my breath.”

These efforts, which have also given her a better understanding of the reality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, have become a lesson in resilience for Gazini, which now fuels her advocacy.

That has come at a cost. Some brands have declined to work with her since she began speaking out more vocally about Palestine.

Yet she wishes she had started using her platform sooner.

“I was confused at first ... I didn’t know enough before. But now that I am more awakened, and I have done my research, I have been siding by humanity for quite a while now,” she said.

“Hopefully, in the next interview I will have my dad with me.”