Walid El-Hout: Voluntary Work Is Undoubtedly A Personal And Social Commitment

ight years ago, I was one of 10 students chosen by UNRWA to resemble Palestine during a visit to South Africa concerning human rights. During that visit, we got a chance to attend the Spain-Portugal World Cup match. As students from Palestine, BBC interviewed us, and, as expected, the focus was on students who practiced the English language well. Questions were asked, yet I had nothing to answer. I felt so embarrassed that I could not interact with the interviewer due to my bad English; that was the point when I decided to change. As soon as I went back home to Gaza, I started working on my English skills and took some courses until I perfected my English reading, writing, and speaking.

I finished high school with an GPA of 99.1%. when we first knew the result, my family and I outburst in tears. I could not decide whether those tears were tears of overjoy or tears of fear from the last war we witnessed in 2014; the only thing I knew is that I was rejoiced to be supported by Reach Education Fund that helped me fulfil my dream in studying dentistry.

I am now in my fifth year at university. Throughout my life, I encountered lots of beautiful moments, but the most memorable of all happened with me recently. A patient who lost all his teeth a month ago walked into the clinic for his last appointment. I was his dentist -while still under supervision. After I was done with his dentures, I started talking to my supervisor. I first thing the patient did is that he surprised his wife with a video call, showing her his teeth while having the biggest smile on his face. You know the feeling when your see the product of you work influencing people’s lives! Satisfaction and fulfilment are all I could feel at that moment. Feeling powerless is what I fear the most: having nothing to do, being incapable of helping others, and most importantly spending your days and nights with no real achievements. Therefore, I decided to devote my knowledge for the sake of helping society. With my great team, I was able to establish an initiative concerned raising the awareness for university students and providing them a better version of their lives.