Meet Al Fakhoora Master's Student Rania Khalil
As part of Al Fakhoora’s Dynamic Future’s scholarship program, an average of 10 students per year are able to complete their master’s degree studies outside, often times in Europe. For most of these students stepping out from behind the blockade to experience student life in Europe is a big shock! This month we sat down with Rania Khalil Al Nahhar who recently returned to Gaza after completing her Master’s in the UK to find out what that was like!
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Rania Khalil Al Najjar, I’m 27 years old and I’m an International Communications and Development professional from Deir Al Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
Some of my interests are reading and research, and I also like traveling and doing voluntary work, especially with the children of Gaza.
What did you do for your undergraduate studies?
I finished my undergraduate degree from Islamic University of Gaza, English Language, Faculty of Education in 2008.
Where did you study for your masters and why did you choose that school and field of study?
I finished my Master’s Degree at City University London, in the field of International Communications and Development. I was interested in this course because of the integral role communications plays in development programs. At a time when ideas about freedom of expression, democracy, human rights and access to natural and material resources guide development projects across the world, the question about the role of media and communications for social change becomes ever more pertinent.
The International Communications and Development MA provides an interdisciplinary framework to understand and critically assess the role of communications for and in development projects especially in the case of Gaza, which has now been under blockade for seven years.
Development is taken as a contested concept that translates into courses for advocating democratic forms of participation, policy initiatives and training activities in media and communications sectors needed in the Gaza context, which is a classic and unique context characterized by conflict and the blockade.
What did you think studying abroad was going to be and what was it actually like?
As a student from the Gaza Strip, I have witnessed first hand the suffering. Studying abroad is unique experience which has affected my life greatly. I couldn’t imagine that one day I would enjoy freedom outside of the Gaza Strip. I breathe freedom in London which I missed when I was in Gaza because of siege and closure. Siege has affected my educational life badly in many ways. In London, the freedom to move and travel is endless.
The situation in the UK is totally different related to electricity. Here, I can sleep without disturbance, knowing that I can read online anytime, as there is always an internet connection. In Gaza, the absence of internet has stopped me from contacting my family via Skype, while most students in the UK can easily communicate with their families. Despite all these difficulties, everything I have achieved so far, I have done using just 6 hours of electricity a day.
Searching in the very few bookshops in Gaza, I could barely find current and modern books in many fields, like media, development, communications and others. However, books in the UK are everywhere, every department, every street, every house, and every corner. At home, I must share books with my classmates, which is stressful during exams, but in the UK I can access all the books I need, and borrow them for long periods of time.
During my studies in London, I brought my knowledge and experience to the international stage of academia through my advocacy work with Al Fakhoora Organization. I have been invited to speak on several conferences and captured my audience with my personal and intense narrative based on my own experiences as well as my scholarly analyses of the situation in developing areas. I have been awarded with the Edward Said Memorial Study Week Conference in the Netherlands.
What are the highlights looking back at your time abroad?
When I finished my research about the effectiveness of international development programs on poverty reduction, the case in the Gaza Strip. This research received a distinctive feedback from my supervisors, which for them was the first time a student focused on the context of the Gaza Strip and the results completed the gap of the literature about Gaza development programs. I feel very happy when I recall the moment I received my dissertation distinction result.
What are your dreams for the future?
I hope to complete my studies and get a PhD scholarship abroad after working for a while in Gaza.
How can you use education to change your world?
Education can be used as a mean for changing the perspectives of people and attitudes towards many issues and to eliminate the stereotypical thinking. Education, by strong determination in Gaza, can help in changing the depressing situation under the blockade.
What is something you want the world to know about you?
I would like to convey to the whole world that Gaza students are not poor in their education, they have the potential to be and have a chance to learn despite that they are made to be poor by the blockade and siege imposed on Gaza.
Was it difficult to leave Gaza for school? What was the experience like?
It was not easy to get out of Gaza, an open air prison. I have to register my name to pass through the Rafah Border, and then I have to go by car for six hours to reach Cairo. It was a long journey to London, but it was a fruitful experience overall. This experience from Gaza to London was like a dream, but a real and beautiful dream.
What is it like returning to Gaza?
I felt very happy when I came back to Gaza, especially to be with my family and friends whom I missed too much when I was in London.
It was a big responsibility to live on your own and study, especially as the academic system was totally different from that in Gaza. My supervisor was called me "a little fighter'' because I battled to complete my studies and get the desired results, by the end, on my dissertation.
What did you think of the city, the people, the school?
People are very kind and they support Palestinian students in general. The school was very helpful as well, and it has strong foundations in communications, development, democracy, and social media, which are not available here in Gaza universities.
If you could bring one thing back to Gaza from where you studied what would it be?
If I could pack in my bag one thing to take home with me from the UK it would be my freedom and safety, and if I could leave a gift from Gaza for the UK, I would leave the gifts of ambition and hope that the people of Gaza have.
To find out more about our Dynamic Future's scholarship students and communicate directly with students in Gaza, be sure to follow #ImFromGaza on social media:
