A life of struggle
Khadijha Khader, 23, was born a refugee in Beit Hanoun. She has never been outside Gaza. For many in Gaza, it has become a choice between going to college or putting food on the table.
Khadijha is a member of a large family consisting of 6 boys and 5 girls. As a young girl, Khadijha realised that hard work is probably the only way out of poverty. In her high school grade, she managed to beat all the odds and scored 93%, choosing to study accounting after that. Khadijha got married, had a child, and her husband had an accident and sustained a disability. This has added more burden on her as she had to balance her personal life, her studies, her dreams, and her family.
With her belief in her dream and abilities, and her belief in her family and the support of Al Fakhoora, Khadijha continued her academic and professional journey.
“Al Fakhoora has helped me become the woman I am, the woman I wanted to be,” says Khadijha.
For Khadijha, without Al Fakhoora, life in general and university life in particular would have been tough. Al Fakhoora gives financial, professional, and psychological support and aid to underprivileged students.
Khadijha says she always was a hard-working student. But the training, the atmosphere, and moral and psychological support in the positive environment that Al Fakhoora enabled and created that made a huge impact.
“The personal growth, the networking, the communication skills, the English courses, the leadership skills and perhaps most importantly the community services facilitated and offered to me by Al Fakhoora,” Khadijha Khader counts, “that made helped make a different strong woman out of me” she adds.
Khadijha finished her BA in accounting top of her class, with 90.84% in record time, with the help of Al Fakhoora internship programme, Khadijha could find a job soon after she has finished her degree. Within the four months, Khadijha proved to be an added value to the one of private sectors companies in Gaza.
“I feel positive. My fear of not being able to find work despite my good academic record and ambition has always haunted me. I am a working mother that provides for her family. And I am doing my best to contribute to my community. The least I can do is to be a role model for others. And in my journey, my family has always been there, my dream has never abated, and Al Fakhoora has made the potential real and the dream concrete. And for that I am very thankful,” Khadijha says.
