Impact Stories

This is not an easy time to be a medical or a nursing student – anywhere. In addition to keeping up with a demanding course load, many of these dedicated young men and women are also volunteering to do extra shifts at hospitals, helping to administer PCR tests and vaccines – helping out when and where they can during the pandemic. This is true at AUB’s Medical Center as well. Imagine doing all that while also worrying about whether your parents and siblings have enough to eat and to heat their homes. That’s the situation that some current AUB students are facing. They count themselves fortunate, however, because they are receiving support from donor-funded scholarships. Without this money, they would not be able to continue their studies at AUB. We want to introduce you to several of these students. Here is Lara’s story.

“Without the financial support of AUB, I would have been destined by life’s difficult circumstances to suppress my dreams,” explains Lara. She and her siblings, two brothers and a sister, have faced more than their share of difficult circumstances. Her father died when she was just eight years old. Lara has powerful memories of this remarkable man though. “I can still remember how he used to point towards the main gate of AUB and tell us, ‘Prepare yourselves dears…this is where you will be in a few years.’ I knew that AUB was the place where my dreams could become reality and my potential and capabilities could be developed. I knew that applying to AUB was the first key to a better future.”

Lara also knew that applying to AUB would not be enough. She would need help – a lot of financial help – to realize her dream. “Despite all the circumstances that my family and I have passed through, we never expected the situation in Lebanon would reach rock bottom, the way it has today. Lebanon faces many overlapping difficulties with consequences for every family and home. The ongoing economic crisis with the US dollar inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the massive explosion that devastated our country on August 4, 2020, have added an additional strain on our already stressed home and stretched system. Of all these factors, the economic crisis has had the largest, and most persistent, negative impact on me and my family. The banking sector, which adopted strict controls, has ceased lending money and providing cash. This further added to the already present burden of scarcity of financial resources. Being able to secure the money we need to pay for our tuition fees has become a major stress in the life of every student, and it is only with financial aid that this stress can be alleviated.”

Despite the challenges in her country, Lara has no plans to leave Lebanon. “I see myself as a pediatrician who is dedicated to her community in Lebanon. I aim at graduating from medical school and pursuing a pediatrics residency training also at AUBMC. This will provide me with an opportunity to serve the underserved people and to provide care in communities with limited resources, such as the rural areas of Lebanon.” Another reason to stay in Lebanon is to be close to “my beloved mom who has dedicated her life to us. I will never forget the decades she has spent doing everything for us. We will continue our journey together,” she says. Lara is also looking forward to giving back to AUB. “The help I have received shall forever be engraved in my heart.”