Shatha is a 19 year old displaced Gazan artist and student in Egypt who is accompanying her injured mother while the mother receives treatment at the Red Crescent Hospital in Cairo. I was fortunate enough to meet them while volunteering for mutual-aid efforts at the hospital back in April. And now that Egypt has opened up university registration for the upcoming school year, Shatha finally has a chance to start university again and to pursue her dream of studying Arts & Design. All we need is to do is help her with tuition and administrative fees.

To truly get to know Shatha is not to start with all that she’s lost or all that she’s had to survive, although the list for both is plenty long. To truly get to know Shatha is to know her as an incredibly talented, dedicated, and passionate young woman. To get to know her is to immediately see her eagerness to learn and to finish her education, proven by the fact that while evacuating, confused and fearful for her life and future, she still made sure to save and bring her High School certificate and transcripts along to cross a border to a country she’d never been to before.

To know Shatha is to witness, firsthand, the strength of her conviction to never compromise when it comes to pursuing Art in university, a dream she’s had since 7th grade.

One of Shatha’s drawings, from a sketchbook she keeps under her mother’s hospital mattress:

Back in Gaza, late September of 2023, Shatha first achieved her dream of starting Art School at Al Aqsa University to pursue a career in Design. On the 5th of October 2023, she unknowingly attended what would be her last lecture at Al Aqsa University. On the 13th of Jan 2024, her mother was walking on unsafe ground following a missile attack and fell into a crater, fracturing her right leg. On the 4th of March 2024, her mother was finally authorized to receive treatment in Cairo and two days after that, Shatha left her father and siblings behind in Gaza to accompany her mother to the Red Crescent Hospital in Cairo where they still reside to this day.

Her mother’s leg before and after plate insertion which was the first step they took in treatment:

Shatha’s University, Al Aqsa, destroyed in Khan Younis (Picture by Ruwaida Amer):

Now with no university left standing in Gaza, Gazan students were given the option to start over at foreign universities, granted that they still have their certificate/transcripts in their possession, something Shatha thankfully does.

Picture showing Shatha’s High School scores, averaging 85% in the Literary (Adabi) Pathway:

Picture showing tuition costs for international students at Egyptian Public Universities. Shatha’s Yearly tuition, highlighted in purple, being one of the lowest on the list: 3500 Dollars:

The costs listed below, and the fundraiser’s preliminary goal, are set for the lowest possible sum needed, not accounting for student accommodation or a stipend for her to survive the 5 years of school here in Egypt. Any added costs, or if the fundraiser’s goal increases in the future, will be explained as they become apparent to us.

We’ve started the campaign before her acceptance into a specific school because after initial acceptance, we would only be given 2 weeks to pay for the rest of admin costs and first-year tuition which is thousands of dollars we currently don’t have. So we will start fundraising ahead and will update this fundraiser with her acceptance letter or any news as soon as we receive them.

Breakdown of Costs:

Mandatory Administrative One-Time Fees:

Tuition & Paperwork

Everything sums up to: 10940 USD.

Please help Shatha achieve her dreams. I know for certain that she will go on to do great things in life and I, and hopefully you as well, am honored to have been part of her life and her journey to achieving that.

Thank you so much for donating to this fund, please remember to also share widely within your networks.

Note: This fundraiser is created on behalf of Shatha Mesmeh by Mohamed Ashraf, an Egyptian citizen who was formerly based in the US, and Menna Essam, who is based in Egypt. Both Ashraf and Menna are in direct contact with Shatha.