Last month I spent some time working out of UPA’s office in the West Bank. During that time, I was blessed with numerous opportunities to meet high school graduates whose families pleaded their cases for a UPA scholarship from the Mahmoud Darwish Scholarship Fund.

For many students, graduation is a bitter-sweet experience due to the inevitable challenges that await them. Firstly, there is a financial insecurity regarding college tuition. Secondly, there is a job uncertainty enforced by the occupation, blockade, and suffering economy.

With this said, one might wonder why we continue to invest in education as Palestinians. After all, what is the purpose of this investment if employment is scarce?

We invest in education because it is our sacred right. For generations, most of our rights as Palestinians have been denied and our freedom compromised. The only right we have left is the right to learn; the only freedom still intact is the freedom to reflect, imagine and dream.

I see this clearly in students like Zainab, one of our scholarship recipients from Gaza. She was denied an exit permit to study abroad due to the blockade. Your donations funded her scholarship to study at a local university, and she utilized this opportunity to push the boundaries of the occupation. Zainab started a project that helps connect Palestinian students with mentors overseas and prepares them for university interviews. Zainab was restricted in her freedom to move, but not in her freedom to think.

“Impossible shouldn’t be a word in our dictionaries!” – Zainab

As Palestinians, the only safe space where nobody can infringe upon our freedom is our mind.

UPA continues to support education because it is the ultimate investment in Palestine’s most valuable resource: the human being.

With hope,

Saleem F. Zaru

Executive Director