Twenty-seven final-year medical students from Al-Azhar University and Islamic University in Gaza, who were displaced from their universities after they were destroyed by Israeli missiles, were recently able to complete their studies through the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witswatersand.
The students arrived in South Africa last year to finish their medical studies so that they could graduate. Most of them escaped to Egypt through the Rafa border to get to South Africa, after their faculty deans had made arrangements with South African universities for them to complete their degrees.
The NPO Gift of the Givers bade farewell to the students at UCT this month after a dinner held to celebrate their milestone.
Gift of the Givers co-founder Zohra Sooliman told Daily Maverick that these students would be the future when the war ended.
She said the organisation had approached donors and sponsors to help fund the students, who had to endure several hurdles during their time here.
“The practical part – they did that with all of the local hospitals and clinics. But they were still doing their theory online with their home university, which was a challenge. For example, in theory they’d probably be doing something like surgery, but in the local hospitals here, they were probably doing their obstetrics and gynaecology,” she said.
There was also the language adjustment, with South Africans speaking 11 languages.
Additionally, the students were experiencing guilt for leaving their families behind while they were safe studying in South Africa.
However, Sooliman said they showed determination and courage to complete their studies in a foreign country.
The students have a few theory exams still to do, but they have completed their practicals. Sooliman said some have left the country already and the rest will depart for Gaza in the coming days.
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