University funds

Financial despair, PTSD, ED, and MDD — you name it. My father’s sudden death on March 9, 2018 wrecked the family in more ways than one. I was a senior in high school when he died of a heart attack, and things have only gotten worse ever since. My name is Riwa, and I am half Persian and half Lebanese. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but moved to Tehran, Iran, in 2006, and moved back to Lebanon alone — without my mother and sister — in July 2018 to study at university. The year my father passed away, the currency value in Iran plummeted. Where once upon a time it was easy for us to exchange money into U.S. dollars, it is now merely impossible given the massive conversion difference. Not only did the economy fall apart the year my father died, ever since his death, we are in the tightest financial spot. My father was the family’s breadwinner and source of income, so we lost everything the moment he took his last breath. In all honesty, I constantly thought of creating a GoFundMe, but the idea of me having to explain the reality of what has become is something I dreaded. My father (or papi/pap as I liked to call him) was everything to me, so losing him shattered me. My little sister is still in school, and her and I are legally orphans now. My poor widowed mother is scraping what is left of our inheritance money to be able to sustain my education here in Lebanon. My first year in university my father had some money set aside to fund my tuition and dormitory fees. However, the second year came through, and we were out of money to continue. My uncle lent us money, my best friend funded some of my dorm fees, and I worked over 326 hours worth of part time jobs in summer to help my mother pay. I also studied hard to score a 25% scholarship up until the last semester and now a 50% scholarship for the Fall 2020 semester in university. That was all still not enough. My mother continued to use the little money we have left to fund my education, but this is still not okay! My mother and sister struggle to eat and live because of my expenses. A massive amount of money in the IRR currency will amount to a very minimal amount of money in dollars. My tuition and dormitory fees for the upcoming year will amount to $7000, which might seem trivial to some but is rather unaffordable to us. My mother has recently informed me that I may not be able to further my education any longer, which terrifies me. There are also living expenses that my mother funds, but this has all become too much. There were countless of days in university where
I tried to find the cheapest meals in store to sustain my hunger for the week because my living budget was and still is too low — sometimes I had insufficient amounts and found myself barely eating. It wasn’t until my friends started bringing me homemade food that I felt rather nourished. I also have problematic family members here in Lebanon and thus am unable to live with them. Everything is far too triggering: my ED (which I got clinically diagnosed with in 2015) is resurfacing strongly, my MDD is at its peak, and my PTSD is affecting me day and night with anxiety, night terrors, and anger attacks. I believe I have hit rock bottom both mentally and physically. Today, I decided to speak up about this because I know I personally can make my father proud and pull this family out of the rut it has fallen into. This all begins with a completion of my BS in Nutrition and Dietetics. I also want to heal my mental health — all in due time. I am honestly desperate for help, and I am asking you to help me raise $14,000 for the next two years ahead of me. I still have 3-3.5 years of university (roughly $24,500 for the next three years), but I ask for at least $14,000 to fund the next two years, so I can start saving up for my third year. Thank you for reading, and I hope you can find it in your heart to help me in any way, shape, or form.

*For utmost transparency with you, this GoFundMe will be connected to my best friend’s account in the U.S., for GoFundMe and PayPal are both unavailable in Lebanon.

Thank you.