Sameh Matar

From his childhood in Gaza, Palestine, to his study abroad high school program in Olympia, WA, to a full scholarship to study at the King's Academy in Amman, Jordan, Sameh Matar is beyond deserving.

I first met Sameh when I was home from school on Christmas break in 2008. Sameh had come to Olympia to spend a year studying at a local high school as part of an international exchange program. That particular winter, Israel had launched its nearly month long attack, Operation Cast Lead, on the Gazan people. In Olympia, this horrible event brought together three panelists to speak about their own understanding of the situation. The last of the three speakers that evening was Sameh. Only 16-years-old at the time, I remember clearly the fear and panic on his face as he spent the evening talking to an audience about his life in Gaza, his experience as a student in America, and all recent contact with his family in Palestine.

Now, nearly two years later, I was informed by his American host mother of his graduation from one of the most prestigious high schools in all of the Middle East. Upon completion of his one year exchange, Sameh proceeded to earn a full scholarship to study at the King's Academy in Jordan for his final year of high school, and then studied diligently to be awarded another complete scholarship to a university in the U.S. with the intention of becoming a surgeon. This boy amazes me not just because he is a smart, driven, and compassionate person, but because he has never doubted his own dreams.

After I was informed that he was about to graduate from the King's Academy in Jordan where I was working with CRP, I immediately called him up and arranged to meet him and his family for coffee a few days later. During our short get together at a coffee shop in West Amman, I learned that Sameh was one of ten siblings and that his parents have worked and sacrificed everything possible in order to support all of their children's futures. When I wrote in another blog that it is not in our ability to judge a family for having many children even if they live in Gaza, or Burundi, or some other impoverished or over populated part of the world, Sameh's story is living proof. Each and every one of Sameh's brothers and sisters, using far less resources than most people in the U.S. have in their childhood, has become a hard-working productive member of society, regardless of the circumstances they or their family has had to overcome. Furthermore, if one is worried about the issue of overpopulation (families having to many children, etc.), which someone commented on in one of my previous blogs, there is no need. That is an issue we have enabled Israel to take care of (killing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians) with U.S. tax dollars, so no worries there. To get back to the story I was telling, when I asked Sameh about being a surgeon he said,"after I get my degree and work for a few years, I would like to go back and work in Gaza", something that most all other people would not be willing to do.

After coffee, his parents invited me and another volunteer who was with me at the time over to his apartment for dinner the following evening. He had rented an apartment for his parents, who although they did not get out of Gaza in time to see their son graduate, were at least able to come and visit for a week. With a tiny kitchen and a few chairs around a table, his parents cooked us one of the best meals I have ever had. Juice, then the main course, then tea, then fresh fruit to finish the night off. I can see where Sameh got his kindness and generosity from!

The following weekend, Sameh took my friend and I out to visit his high school in Jordan. His father had never seen the school, and wanted to come along to thank all of his teachers and headmaster for making his dreams possible. Sameh has gone from living in Gaza, to living with a family in the U.S., to living in a tiny apartment in Jordan, to attending this boarding school that looks similar to a very wealthy private university in the United States. Unlike most students I know, Sameh remains most grateful and aware of all of the opportunities he has been given, regardless of whether he is in Palestine with his family, or living "the good life" going to school in at the King's Academy.

Although he may see himself as just another boy studying and working to get to where he wants to be, meeting him has changed the way I see my own education, family, and future.