
Palestinian medical students in Cuba highlight pain of diaspora
The Peninsula
Havana: Thousands of miles from Gaza, medical student Samar Alghoul is supposed to be living her dream in Cuba, where she and hundreds of other Palest...
Havana: Thousands of miles from Gaza, medical student Samar Alghoul is supposed to be living her dream in Cuba, where she and hundreds of other Palestinians have been given the opportunity to study for free.
But, like the Palestinian diaspora all around the world, she is ridden with anxiety watching the decimation of her home from afar.
The 21-year-old lives in a dorm with six other students at the University of Havana, but often dreams of returning to her family's side, even if it means running towards war.
"It would be easier for me to be with them than to have all these thoughts," of not knowing "what they drink, what they eat, where they sleep," Alghoul said of her mother, two brothers and sister who live in the Gaza Strip.
She said her mother tells her: "We are proud of you, we are proud to have someone outside of Gaza who is studying medicine."