January 19, 2021

“I tried to do my best in school ever since I was a kid, my dream was to become a doctor. It’s always said that while growing up, dreams become smaller, but I never believed that. What made me more motivated was after the explosion of Newroz of 2015 happened, my father was there and he was one of the injured. We took him to the hospital, I saw many casualties there, and I also saw all the shortcomings, that motivated me to become a doctor even more. My father was injured in his leg and arm, and because his surgery was so late, he became paralyzed. He could not work again so I decided to leave to Southern Kurdistan to get a suitable job. We stayed there for a while, but we couldn’t handle it and we came back to Syria. I was then a 12th grade student, and had to try my best to get good grades to be accepted in Medical college”.

“Many things happened in the same year, ISIS came to our region and were close to our house, and so we had to leave to Qamishli. Despite the bad situation, I didn’t give up on my dreams, and studied and was accepted in Medical college in Damascus. I was extremely happy, and my family were proud of me because I never gave up. I went to Damascus, but a lot of trouble came my way. I was a lonely 18 years old girl, away from my family during the war and instability. As a girl, life was very difficult. I went through a lot, but never stopped chasing my dreams. I am now a senior in college and am going to be doctor to help people so that I wouldn’t let what happened to my father happen to anyone else. I have learned a lesson that your situation is only affected by your will and your determination. We have to make positive changes, whether it’s for ourselves or others”.