Aliya

My name is Aliya, and I am 41 years old. I have 8 brothers and 5 sisters. All of them are married. My mom and dad have passed away.

My hobbies are writing, painting, and crafts work. When I was still a girl, my dream was to continue my education but that didn't happen because my parents didn't care about education enough. So, I promised myself, to marry someone educated and thank God that happend. After getting married, as I was pregnant, I asked my husband if I can do preparatory classes for the official exams for grade 9 elementary, and he accepted that I continue my education. But, during that year, my husband passed away, while having our third and youngest child. My teacher and my brother kept encouraging me to continue my education and so I did succeed the official exam of grade 9 and later on I finished the official exam of the 3rd high school year after rolling in a similar preparatory classes.

Then my concern was to let my children finish their education and so I had to stop my own education though my dream was to finish university.

Then the war started and we started running from one place to another looking for shelter and ended up coming to Lebanon. I really struggled a lot to find us a place to live and to find work. And now I work for a dentist.

I feel sad for my kids and especially the oldest ones because they didn't finish their education. But thank God I am trying my best so they catch up even though the situation is hard here for education in Lebanon. I have in mind to continue university.