Sajeeda is a 28 year old Jordanian student from Irbid. She is currently doing a Master’s in geology at the university of Yarmouk.
Sajeeda is a brilliant student who graduated top of her class. She always dreamt of becoming a geologist and working in nature, and is passionate about what she is doing. However, “[…] in Jordan, it is rare to get job opportunities in geology, and it’s even more difficult as a woman,” she deplores. “Many try to get jobs outside of the country because the demand of geologists is pretty low, at least in Jordan.”
Her family is very supportive of her studies; her father wants his children to get an education and be prepared to face life’s challenges. “All my father wanted was for us to study, so he always encouraged us. In a country where resources are rare, education is your only weapon.” He was able to support Sajeeda until she got her Bachelor’s degree but then had to make sure his other children had the same opportunity.
After she completed her Bachelor’s degree, Sajeeda wanted to go further in her studies but things did not quite work out the way she had hoped for. She had to wait a long time before she could enroll in her Master’s degree and when all hope seemed lost, she got accepted for a scholarship: “It was a dream come true that I was able to continue my studies after I had started losing hope, especially with what was being offered to me, so getting the scholarship motivated me to continue on the path that I started on and it gave me the motivation to not stop at my Master’s degree but to continue even further.”
I had the motivation to prove not only to my family but to the society that I live in that I am capable of achieving something. Even if I can’t do it practically for now because there are no opportunities for me to prove myself on that front, at least academically I am able to excel and be successful.
Sajeeda hopes to go even further in her studies and to excel academically. She has big dreams and is well on the path of achieving them. “My hope for the future is to finish my masters successfully and get a PhD scholarship in Germany, my dream country... and then to continue my studies there and not only stop at my PhD, but do some research in this field that I love and am passionate about… hopefully [this dream] it will come true!”
