We have been working to fund the education of young women in Gaza in honor of our former student, Dr. Razan Hamdan Abulebdeh, a physician and LE.O scholar who was killed along with members of her family in Gaza in December 2023.
Razan’s sister Hala survived because she was studying abroad at the time. Since losing her family, Hala has worked with LE.O to help us determine how best to carry Razan’s legacy forward. With her blessing, we established the Dr. Razan Hamdan Abulebdeh Scholarship, supporting young Palestinian women pursuing healthcare careers and committed to serving their communities in Gaza.
Hala has been closely involved in shaping this scholarship from the beginning. Together, we established criteria that reflect both Razan’s life and the values she held deeply: a commitment to healthcare, service to community, and a desire to use one’s education to give back to Gaza.
I am happy to share that, thanks to your generosity, we have secured enough funding to place one young woman in nursing school in Gaza. To everyone who contributed to this special memorial fund, we are deeply grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity.
But now we face a much harder decision.
Iman, our Director of Student Affairs, and I spent weeks searching for young women who met the scholarship criteria. With the help of Noura, a LE.O student already studying in Gaza, Hala’s friends and members of Razan’s community, we narrowed the applications to ten remarkable young women.
Then, on Sunday, Hala joined Iman and me for five hours of individual interviews with all ten candidates.
We wanted to understand not only their academic aspirations, but also their lives, the obstacles they face, their commitment to healthcare, and what receiving this scholarship would mean for them and their families.
I’m not sure I was prepared for what we heard.
Every one of them joined the interview with a big smile. We had intentionally tried to reassure them beforehand and ease some of the anxiety of being interviewed.
Eight joined us from tents. One was living in a damaged building. Another connected from an internet café by the beach, with the sound of waves crashing in the background.
Some had taken their Tawjihi exams last year and had already lost a year of their education. One young woman described her family being pulled from the rubble of their home. Another has a father who was badly injured. Every one of them has lost family members, friends, neighbors, or pieces of the life they knew.
None has a computer or tablet. They told us they planned to attend classes and study using mobile phones shared by their families.
And yet, they are still planning for their futures.
They want to become nurses and healthcare professionals. Some have already volunteered their limited skills in clinics and medical points to help others. One is willing to walk an hour and a half each way to reach her university. Another is the youngest of seven children and may be the only one in her family with a chance to attend university. One cared for her injured father and remained beside him in the hospital until he was well enough to leave.
These are the young women we are being asked to choose between.
We initially planned to fund one student.
After meeting them, we are asking ourselves—and you—whether we can do more.
Could we support three?
We have already secured the funding for one nursing student. We would now like to raise enough to give two more young women the same opportunity.
For each additional student, tuition, transportation, and basic study supplies will cost approximately
$2,000 per year for four years.
$4,000 would allow two additional students to begin their first year.
$16,000 would fund all four years for both students.
We do not need to raise the entire four-year amount today. We can begin by raising enough to enroll these two students this year, then continue fundraising each year to ensure that they are able to complete their education.
But we need to know now whether our community is willing to help us say yes to two more young women.
For Hala, this scholarship is also deeply personal. It is a way for the values that defined Razan and her family—education, healthcare, service, and responsibility to community—to continue through another generation of young women in Gaza.
Razan believed that education carried with it a responsibility to serve others. When LE.O’s Executive Director once told her that one day it would be her responsibility to help another Palestinian student as she had been helped, Razan responded:
“I will pay it forward for many.”
Today, Hala is helping us carry her sister’s promise forward.
And we are asking you to help us make “many” more than one.
Our immediate goal is $4,000 to enroll two additional students this year.
Every contribution, large or small, brings us closer to being able to tell two more young women that they do not have to put their education—and their dreams of serving their community—on hold.
I’d like to leave you with a quote you have seen me use before, but I can think of no better ending to this letter:
“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”
— Malcolm X