Ola Aburamadan
I’m Ola Aburamadan, an English teacher from Gaza. My story is one of survival, hope, and the power of mentorship.
When the genocide began, life turned into a daily fight for safety. There were days when I couldn’t sleep because of the bombings. Nights when the sound of explosions replaced silence. I watched schools — the very symbol of hope — turn to rubble. Sometimes, I couldn’t even imagine a future beyond the destruction.
Still, I held on to my dream of rebuilding through education. I had founded a small initiative that grew into a school serving more than 5,000 students, later supported by UNICEF. But to make a real change, I needed to learn — and that’s when SFG came into my life.
During the genocide, applying for the Chevening Awards felt impossible. Electricity cuts, weak internet, trauma — everything made the process harder.
Yet, my SFG mentor Beth and the founder, Ahmed Issa, never left my side. They guided me through every essay, encouraged me when I broke down, and reminded me that my voice and my story mattered.
SFG even helped me prepare for interviews and offered to cover my English test fees when I couldn’t afford them. They were my light when the world around me went dark.
Today, I’m studying Education and International Development at University College London (UCL) on a fully funded Chevening Scholarship. But this success belongs not only to me — it belongs to those who believed in me when I almost stopped believing in myself.
Malak
My name is Malak, and I’ve been fortunate to receive full scholarships to universities like Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, and Trinity College Dublin. But what truly changed my journey wasn’t just the scholarships — it was mentorship.
When I first joined the Scholarships For Ghazza (SFG) mentorship programme, I thought I could do everything on my own. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
With the guidance of my incredible mentor, Anna Carroll, a human rights law graduate from Ireland, I learned that success isn’t just about hard work — it’s about being guided in the right direction, by the right people.
Anna didn’t just help me with applications. She stood by me through everything — from drafting essays by candlelight, to preparing for interviews amid the chaos of genocide. She believed in me even when I doubted myself. When I was finally evacuated from Gaza to Ireland, it felt like our victory, not just mine.
Mentorship, I’ve learned, is not just about advice — it’s about connection, humanity, and hope. As Anna often says, “I couldn’t stop the genocide, but I could make a difference to one person.” And she did.
To every professional or academic out there — if you’ve ever wondered how to make a tangible impact, become a mentor with Scholarships for Ghazza. For students like me, mentorship isn’t just guidance — it’s a lifeline.
Doaa Nabil Ahmed
My name is Doaa Nabil Ahmed. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in Translation (2023) and a Bachelor’s degree in English Language Education (2025), and I am honored to have been awarded the Salam Scholarship for Palestinian women to pursue an MA in TESOL at Ulster University – Coleraine Campus.
Before joining the mentorship programme, I was unsure if I could manage scholarship applications while living with frequent internet outages, long electricity cuts, and the dangers of bombings in Gaza. But the programme gave me something rare: dedicated mentors, supportive peers, and a community that believed in me. With their guidance, I gained the skills, confidence, and resources that helped me secure my scholarship.
This experience showed me how powerful mentorship can be in transforming lives. That is why I wholeheartedly encourage more mentors to join this initiative. Your guidance does not only help students achieve academic goals—it gives hope, resilience, and the belief that even under the hardest circumstances, dreams are still possible.
Shahd Alwahidi
I never imagined applying for scholarships while living through a genocide. After being displaced in Gaza, I often found myself in a tent, with no stable internet and no quiet place to write. Many times, I thought about giving up.
When I joined the Scholarships For Ghazza (SFG) mentorship initiative, I worried my mentor wouldn’t understand the reality I was facing.
But Chris, my mentor, was patient in ways I didn’t expect. He never rushed me. He understood when the connection dropped, when I couldn’t focus, when I felt hopeless. Instead, he encouraged me to write freely, to see my story as powerful, and to believe that my voice mattered.
At first, I hated the writing process. I didn’t think I was good enough. But Chris guided me step by step—helping me shape raw thoughts into strong personal statements, reminding me to keep going after rejections, and lifting me up when I felt like quitting. Slowly, I started to dream again.
That support changed everything. I secured a fully funded scholarship at the University of Washington in Seattle, as well as offers from the The University of Manchester, @uofglasgow , University of Leicester, and the University of Alberta. Today, I am pursuing Biomedical Engineering at the University of Glasgow, holding on to the hope and resilience that carried me through this journey.
This journey showed me that mentorship is not only about guidance—it’s about patience, kindness, and believing in someone until they can believe in themselves again.