Today I was in the kitchen and popped down to get a cup of coffee, ended up talking with my sweet co-worker H. H and I started talking about my Arabic classes and I was practicing the basics of "your office, my office, our office".... she giggled, and told me about how she once had the opportunity to study in Virginia.
She had won a scholarship, but they soon informed her that they were sorry, and they would choose someone from the West Bank because it was impossible to get her out of Gaza. H also had the opportunity of studying in Belgium, again, she won a scholarship, and soon enough encountered a denied exit from Gaza.
I couldn't help but burst into tears in the middle of the kitchen thinking about the pain and sadness and the block to opportunity and knowledge. She even said it matter-of-factly, and had clearly dealt with the pain and sadness of it when it first happened. After receiving notice, H cried for two days, moving on to the resilience that many Gazans have built up over time.
This is not the first impediment to education that I have heard of. Knowledge is power, and education is a right.
It's a sad day.
I feel the sadness too, Alex. This sort of story is a reminder to us about how fortunate we are and also a reminder of the strength that people are able to muster up in the worst of conditions. How can we complain about our lives? Imagine where that intelligent woman could be and and how her knowledge could help others if she hadn't been blocked from learning? It's painful indeed.
ReplyDeleteI know, and speaking from experience, Scholarships are 1. Hard to apply for 2. Hard to get
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