Mohammed needs your help to graduate

"This is Nour Alshaer. I am a college student in the US and Mohammed is one of my good friends. Mohammed asked me to help him start this campaign because he does not meet GoFundMe requirements to start a fundraising campaign as he is in Palestine. Money will be transferred to his bank account through a bank transfer.  You can read his story below."


Imagine 6 years of rigorous medical study vanishing in vain!



My name is Mohammed Shatat. I originally come from Beit Hanoun, a farming town in the north of Gaza Strip. I live in Gaza city with my family of three sisters, two brothers, and my extremely caring parents. My father, who is a pharmacist, played a major role in my childhood as he, almost daily, took me along to his pharmacy in Shajaiya. Growing up around medications and hearing medical jargon, my mind was set to become a doctor in the future. Moreover, a driving force for my excellence in high school was stories from my grandparents and uncles, whom I visited weekly, speaking of suffering from almost nonexistent medical care in Beit Hanoun. Such stories were mostly touching during the 2012 attack in Gaza, during which I was a senior in high school. I was determined to achieve a high GPA, enroll at medical school, and take part in relieving the suffering in my home farming community.
Description: During providing urgent food supplies for homeless people after 2012 war with IHSAN voluntary campaign


I made it! I achieved a high GPA in my senior year of high school that allowed me to enroll at the medical school at Al Azhar University in Gaza. Excitement all over me, I paid full tuition for my first semester, and, in August 2013, my journey of learning and exploration- with the ultimate goal of serving the community- had begun! I was extremely committed to my studies and my classes, making sure to miss no classes or labs. I scored very well in my first semester, and, with the same excitement I started with, I paid my tuition for the second semester in full. Dedication to medicine took a sharp rise in that semester as we had our first real experience with medicine; I deeply enjoyed anatomy classes and labs and physiology lectures! Once again, my grades were very good in that semester and I started looking for a wonderful journey ahead of me, as classes will dig deeper in medicine over the next 5 years.

A tragedy!

The summer after my first year, the infamous 2014 attack broke out! For 51 continuous days, Gaza was mercilessly bombed by the Israeli army. The most tragic night, and the one my family remembers most vividly, was the night of July 20, the Shajaiya attack! Throughout the whole night, bombs never stopped falling, not even for a minute! We live in the neighborhood right next to Shajaiya, and to this day I still remember the picture of exodus; families dreadfully fleeing in the streets looking for safe place and hoping to find one. As terrified as were and as heartbreaking as we felt, we were equally apprehensive of what will happen to my dad’s pharmacy in Shajaiya. As the only source of income for us, we were truly frightened of losing that sole source! In the 3 days of ceasefire that ensued, I accompanied my dad to Shajaiya to check the damage that has been done. Almost the whole block where the pharmacy is was damaged and leveled to the ground. My dad knew the pharmacy will now need to be rebuilt and new medication purchased, a burden so heavy I could feel it myself. Sparing no time, and with money he saved over the years, my dad started reconstructing his pharmacy after the attack had stopped in late August. Reflecting back on it, I believe it was his desire to help the devastated people of Shajaiya that made him try to get back on his feet as soon as possible. Although, he managed that, but the aftermath of what happened fell on our family, and mostly on me and my studies. It was exceedingly difficult for my family to pay my full tuition like they did in my first year! I quickly realized that, and I knew I had to act and be responsible. I started working part-time for a doctor in his private clinic, managing patients’ appointments and surgery schedule. I made my best to strike a balance between my new responsibilities and my studies, hoping to keep my records as good as they were while at the same time paying my share of my tuition fees. That being said, I could only pay part of my tuition for the second and third year of school. Things became even harder for my family after that. Salary cuts crippled the economy in Gaza even more. This meant a further decrease in our family income. This was paralleled by the fact that two of my siblings started college when I was in my fourth and fifth year. At this point, it was impossible for my family to pay any of my tuition fees. I could barely convince the university administration to allow me to continue my education on the condition that I pay all my tuition fees before I graduate. A condition which obviously relies on hope for things to get better, and for my family’s situation to improve. I’m a few months away from graduation and, unfortunately, that hope is starting to vanish in face of the realities in front of me; losing 6 years of rigorous education and hard work!









A journey of commitment and community engagement!

Since my first days in medical school, I applied to the Gaza committee of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA), where I become an active member. This is an international body representing all medical students around the world with the aim of enriching the experience of the medical students with active community engagement, volunteering, training, and exchange experience. Over my last four medical years, I took up the career ladder starting from member to projects coordinator to secretary general of IFMSA-Gaza. I didn't stop at this point, with all the support from my colleagues and their trust in me as a reliable, inquisitive, thoughtful leader I was nominated for the presidency of this student forum and I was elected as a president of IFMSA- Gaza for the last year.


Aside from my academic achievements in school, I have been continuously participating in community volunteering activities and this continues through my medical school years. Over my term as a president, I led the IFMSA-Gaza team to hold and organize numerous activities, ranging from workshops and training for the medical students to medical days to screen prevalent disease in the public in our community. Two projects truly stand out and of which I’m mostly proud are MEDx and the laypeople first aid training program. MEDx was a TED-like event, where medical students and graduates shared various experiences. It was the first time the two medical school in Gaza collaborate to organize such event. The laypeople first aid training program is aimed at training laypeople to perform life-saving first aid. We have goal to train 3000 people, and during my term as a president, we managed to reach almost two-thirds of our goal.

Description: taking part of first aid training sessions and train the medical students to be first aid trainer for the laypeople. These training sessions aimed to focus on life saving first aid which can be very helpful in preventing unnecessary preventable deaths especially in marginal conflict areas.

I don’t plan for my journey of community engagement to stop where it is now. I plan to extend it further after I graduate. I plan to volunteer at the clinic in my hometown, Beit Hanoun, following my graduation. I pledge to spend one day each week at the clinic helping doctors there and doing my share of work to improve the healthcare in my community.

Description: During the opening of World Diabetes Day event in our university, with cooperation of international and local health institutions, we presented a scientific lecture on diabetes, conducted a random blood sugar test for the students and we discovered undiagnosed cases!

Thank God! Last June I finally completed all the requirements of my Bachelor degree in Medicine and Surgery. One requirement still remains, though, and it is paying paying the remainder of my tuition, which is very crucial for me to start my professional life and start giving back to my community. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me, and for considering investing in my future. I truly appreciate it more than I can say.


Description: this screenshot shown a summary of my university financial profile. We have 15 academic semesters distributed over 6 academic years (2 semesters each year plus 3 summer semesters). We study a total of 254 credit hours and each hour costs 90 Jordanian Dinars (JD) (approx. 130$). I was able to pay my tuition in full for the first 2 years. Following the tragic events in 2014, my family could only afford paying half of my tuition for the third year. After the severe deterioration in the conditions in Gaza and payroll deduction in 2016, it was nearly impossible for my family to pay my tuition for the last 7 semesters of my last 3 years of school!
the numbers in the screenshot above illustrate my tuition fees in Jordanian Dinars (JD) as it is the currency our university uses for paying fees. I’ve paid 10310 JD out of 23812 JD so I still have to pay 13502 JD, which is equal about 19100 USD. I added an additional 2500$ to the total because there will be a bank transfer tax