Rawan

I was teaching music at that school, and she was one of my very special students who played the cello and took it very seriously and excelled at it. After a couple of years at the non-formal school, the organization I was working for registered her in the Nazarene Evangelical Middle School where she also excelled and graduated from 9th grade with distinction at the top of her class. She gave one of the student speeches at the commencement and delivered it with great confidence and poise. 

The organization I worked for, only helped children through the 9th grade at the time and this is when I decided to step in and start helping Rawan with her continued education. I couldn’t bear the fact to see someone with such talent and intelligence stop their education and get married at an early age just because this is what their culture does. I wanted to register her in a good private school, but her mother would not accept and would not budge because she wanted her to get vailed and most private schools didn’t allow the vail at school. She ended up going to a public school near her home where the teachers didn’t really care if the student needed help or not. As a result, her grades went down drastically, and her English got poorer, and also the pressure was on for her to get married. 

Throughout her high school years, I continued speaking with her and encouraging her to stay the course and not yield to the pressure of marriage. I tried, as much as I could, to show her the benefits and the excitement of continuing her education by going to college and even further. She accepted the challenge but had major doubts that it was going to happen. College was something that none of her family members had gone to and it was up to her to break the cycle of poverty. To be truthful, I had doubts myself, because it was an unknown territory for me, and an expensive one I might add, which I didn’t know if I could bear. During her last year in high school, I was in the States and kept in touch with her by phone. I was afraid that we’d miss registering her in college because I was not in Lebanon to help her.

THIS IS WHERE GOD INTERVENED AND IMPRESSED ME with His great blessings. Towards the end of the school year, we started talking about college and what she wants to study. She liked the medical field but didn’t know where to go with it. I asked my brother to take her and show her the different universities in Beirut as I started checking online on tuitions for each university. Eight thousand dollars was the cheapest. At that time, the Lifelong Impact organization was on month old, but we didn’t have any funds yet, and I couldn’t pay such an amount from my pocket and to be honest, I had no idea where the money was going to come from but had enough faith in my Lord that He will provide. 

Finally, our search was filtered down to two universities. (Balamand); A very good university and a walking distance from Rawan’s house, which made things look very likely that she would end up there, and (Haigazian); a Christian University with the same level of education but I believe has much better values. The only problem, and a major one at that, is the transportation issue, because Haigazian is a few miles away on the other side of town. Rawan’s mom is very protective and won’t let her go anywhere without being accompanied by someone. Rawan wanted Balamand because of its convenience, and I wanted Haigazian because of its values. I asked her to apply to both, and I thought the Lord will lead us by having one of the universities decline her acceptance, thus the decision would have been made for us. If both accept her, then we’ll have to decide, praying also that God will lead the way by then. She started the process and I started the praying. Of course I prayed for Haigazian although in my mind Balamand was the clear winner. Nonetheless, I prayed for my heart’s desire but most of all for a clear direction. 

Two weeks later, I got a message from the Nazarene Evangelical School where Rawan used to attend a few years before. In the message, they asked if I had or knew of any Syrian refugee student who wanted to go to college. Upon hearing the beginning of this message, my soul shivered and a series of question raced through my mind. Why would they ask ME when they themselves know firsthand a lot of Syrian families? Why didn’t they ask one of the Nazarene pastors? How could this be? This is the first year that I have someone who wanted to go to college and I get this kind of message. The timing was unmistakable. 

What came next was even more unbelievable to say the least and would not have expected it in my wildest scenarios. I wanted a clear direction and this is what I received. The message continued… “If you are interested, Hagazian University called us, and they are looking specifically for a Syrian refugee student who is in need for help to go to college and want to offer him or her a full scholarship for four years.” I can’t explain how I felt at that point. I wanted to jump through the roof. I immediately got on the phone to call Rawan and tell her the great news. Although she was excited about such news, she still had reservations knowing that her mom won’t let her go back and forth in a public bus by herself. I told her that this answer has to be from the Lord and He wouldn’t bring her this far and leave her in the middle of the road. Somehow things will work out. I asked her to call the Nazarene school; get the details and apply and will deal with the rest later. She did and she was accepted but had to take a test for the school to decide if she needs a semester of intensive English. We were advised that if she fails the test, the organization that is helping through Haigazian, will not pay for the four years of college. Rawan was weak in English and she took the test twice and failed both. I told her not to worry and that I’m glad she failed. She wondered why I would say such a thing. I told her that she needs help in English and if she doesn’t take intensive courses, she’ll struggle through the four years of college. She was afraid that she’s going to lose the scholarship, but I told her that God will not lead us all this way and then leave us hanging. Somehow things are going to work. After talking to the supervisor, the organization decided to pay for the intensive English and the four years of college. And to my surprise, her mom later on allowed Rawan to go back and forth by herself. 

The first year of University has passed and Rawan is doing great and majoring in Medical Lab. I want to thank my Lord for His goodness and love. He has surpassed my imagination with his provision. May His name be glorified and lifted up in all we do.