Support Ahmed’s dream from Gaza to come true

I am Ahmed Alijla, a Palestinian from Gaza working as a researcher and project coordinator.

I was 12 when I first knew what a computer is and that was at my friend’s house. My family did not have one at that time, so I used to daily visit my friend to use it or even to have a look. I never felt bored with it to the extent that my parents were sending my younger brother to tell me that I had to go home because time was late and they were worried about me.

Day after day, my passion has come to lead me to wait for the computer lab course at my school to acquire new skills related to computer science.

In addition to my work, I continued learning new data analysis skills in a more special way until I became qualified to start working on writing reports and analyzing data for civil institutions and companies inside and outside Gaza, including the OIB Orient-Institut Beirut.

In 2021, as any young man who seeks to complete his education abroad, I started looking for a scholarship in data science to have my chance to work in this field. Of course, you know that Gaza is a closed city that has been under an aggravated blockade for 15 years. Therefore, I do not possess the luxury of choosing because of the ongoing closure. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to get a scholarship because this major is not available at the universities I applied to. Therefore, I decided to move to Turkey after I completed all the required papers to study data science at Hacettepe governmental University in Ankara, but several circumstances prevented me from leaving Gaza after months of trying and struggling to get permission to leave and pursue my university studies. One of those circumstances was the latest aggression against the Gaza strip in 2021 when my family and I had to evacuate our house (this had also been happening constantly in the previous attacks against Gaza), our house was almost destroyed and all my stuff had disappeared, including my laptop, papers, and everything that was prepared to start my new educational phase in Turkey. It took less than a second when everything became rubble, less than a second to lose everything.

Despite that, I promised myself to resist and continue to be an effective part of my society, whatever the surrounding circumstances are. I was always surrounded by fear and anxiety, but I do believe that a person who survives war can survive the most difficult situations. None of all of that was an excuse for me to stop chasing my goals as a thinker who is committed to improving society. In the same year, I formed a working team whose main mission is to codify Palestinian folk food, which is made of wheat, and also tell people about its history visibly and anecdotally in the form of stories coming from all the Palestinian territories in cooperation with researchers from Bard College in the USA.

Also, I started using data science with my modest experience in improving the quality of projects and getting the best results in addressing problems through my work in NGOs during the year, to build effective policies and distribute resources practically and successfully to the service workers sector in partnership with Action against Hunger.

I have a dream every day to become more academically experienced in data science, because I have discovered that without data science we cannot determine what we want and what results we will achieve. Such a science implies collecting as many data as possible and following certain models that may be economic or related to decision theory, in order to eventually find the most appropriate solution, but without data knowledge, decision-making depends on counter-opinions, regardless of their familiarity.

I have registered again at the university this year, but being a citizen from Gaza, my family is busy trying to stay afloat. My brothers and sisters are also struggling to find ways to survive. The more than a decade-long blockade has paralyzed the economy

This course is about four years, and I am writing to you now to ask for your help in the first year of the course only, so I am trying to raise money to help myself in that year.

This time of the year is a time of giving, family, and love. Your support will help me get the education I need, and help me do this means the world to me.

Please share this with your friends, even if you cannot offer help directly, They may be able to help.

Expected Cost :

Translation and certification of certificates /documents from the Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Birth certificate, high school diploma, baccalaureate = $750

Student Visa + Transportation from Rafah crossing to Cairo + Airline Ticket + Accommodation + Inland Transportation + Cost of Living, Food, and Other Expenses + Medical Care + First-Year Study Materials + Money Transfer Fees and Donations = $8650

I appreciate any amount you pay.

If you donate $50, I will send you a thank you email.

If you donate $100, I will link you to Gaza marketing and consulting companies for your project.

If you donate $500, I'll help you analyze your project data and write your reports.

If you donate $1000, I will provide you with a full curriculum in project writing and management and help you understand it through a Skype session.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Ahmed