Ru’a, our medical scholar, in Miami
Ru’a joined MECI afterschool program at the age of 7 and proved herself to be a brilliant student.
After graduating MECI supported her to pursue her dream with a medical scholarship. She is in her final year at Al-Quds University faculty of Medicine in Jerusalem and has been accepted to the Florida International University (FIU) Medical School 4-week elective rotation in Pediatrics. She is the first woman from the village to travel and complete her medical elective in the USA. This is how she describes her experience:
“On March 6th, 2022 it was my first, and hopefully not the last, visit to the US. I remember feeling so anxious and stressed because I didn’t know how things would be during my one month here. The problem is that people in general build their perspectives based on the things they hear from their surroundings. I’m a girl who was born and raised in a Palestinian village, studying medicine in a Palestinian university. This environment doesn’t accept the idea of a young girl travelling by herself to a country with a different culture in which she doesn’t know anyone. I remember my father coming home a few days before my flight, looking so anxious because one of his friends told him “Are you insane? You're sending your young daughter to Miami?”. My parents have never been to the States so they only know it from the news and people around them. You can imagine how hard it was for them to support their daughter's decision and ignore the negative comments from everyone, literally everyone, else. I had to act as if people’s comments don’t get to me even though they did sometimes. Instead of encouraging me to achieve my dreams, everyone, except my family, was so negative! And it takes huge strength to shut them down and believe in your vision. At that moment, I realized why it is so hard for Arab girls to succeed! If it was my brother, everyone would be extremely happy and proud of him for getting this chance!! But when it comes to girls, the protective mentality dominates.
I’m a Muslim, Hijabi, Palestinian girl going to the US. I have so many things I can get judged on before people even give themselves the chance to know me. I was afraid that the American community will not accept me. I was expecting some discriminative acts, suspicious looks, and disrespectful words. I even was afraid that the patients’ parents will not trust me as a doctor! And there's a reason for all of these negative ideas! Because this is the image we get from social media, the news, and even the conversations between ordinary people. However, I am really happy I had the chance to see the kind, loving, respectful, and supportive side of the world that unfortunately doesn’t get the light shed on often.
My host Rita and her husband Ubaldo were my second family. I never imagined I would feel home while I’m miles away from my actual home! They treated me as their own daughter. They always made sure I’m comfortable, invited me to have lunch with them most of the time, gave me a ride to work when I needed it, asked about how my day went and encouraged me to do my best, got really excited for every little achievement I made, and showed me around during the weekends. I actually cried when I said goodbye to them because it felt like I’m saying goodbye to my family. I never imagined I would receive this huge amount of love. I also never imagined I would end up having a second home in the US!
During my first day in the rotation, I was surprised that I will be joining a group of American medical students and I’m the only international student in the group. This was stressful at the beginning because I felt that it would be hard to excel and stand out. I’m new to the medical system here, to the culture, and to everything! How would I be able to stand out and be better than the students who spent all of their lives in the US! Then instead of focusing on how to be better than everyone else, I focused on being the best version of myself. I focused on doing my best and hoped that it would be enough. And Thank God it was more than enough! My supervising doctor told me that she couldn’t even understand me clearly because of my accent! But I didn’t let that get to me. I told her I’m doing my best and I’ll try to get rid of the accent and make my speech clear. I continued presenting the cases, taking the histories, answering the questions, and getting involved in the discussions. I believe she respected me for trying hard and then she became very kind to me. After my presentation, she told me that everything was perfect, and that it is clear how hard I worked on it to be very well done like this and that she enjoyed it a lot. At the end of the rotation, she told me that it was an honor to have me and that I’m a very hard-working student and this will make me an excellent doctor in the future! I will be sharing the letter of recommendation she wrote for me and her evaluation.
My group was the best! From the first day they welcomed me and were very kind. One of the things I really appreciated in my group is the we didn’t have the toxic competition. Instead, we always encouraged each other. They also didn’t treat me less because I’m an international student. It was actually the opposite! They believed in me to the point where they sent me questions to help them find the answers and they always discussed the cases and possible differentials with me and they trusted my opinion. On the last day, they even got me gifts! They also took me to lunch and we had a great time together! I can say now that I have not only colleagues but friends as well.
The medical system in the US is different than in Palestine. However, it was not hard to adapt to the unfamiliar environment and the new system because everything is very well organized. I also appreciate the unique friendly mentor and mentee relationship that we lack in Palestine. I appreciate the kindness of everyone, and I also appreciate that despite all of the differences between people in the US they all respect each other and cherish their differences!
I believe I’m extremely blessed for getting this chance! I got the chance to see all the positives that the news doesn’t mention. I got to see equality and mutual respect. I got to learn a lot and to improve. Before this, I had the idea of doing my residency in the US but I was not really sure that I could make it. But now I do! I know I have what it takes to succeed there and I also know that this is an environment that will help me grow and achieve my dreams. I also was able to get a strong letter of recommendation that will help me a lot when applying to residency programs.
None of this would have ever happened without you. I am eternally grateful to everyone who contributed to this success. I did my best to make you all proud of me and I hope that after you see this you will be. I promise you to always believe in myself and work hard to be the best version I could be. I will not just be an ordinary doctor, but I will be an exceptional one who gets to make a real difference. Thank you for believing in me and for giving me the chance to discover my potentials and believe in them.”