She overcame financial and personal challenges to pursue her passion for dentistry and is now working toward building her own dental practice in Sidon.
Manar is a Palestinian graduate who lives with her family in Sidon, southern Lebanon. She graduated this year from Beirut Arab University with a degree in Dental Medicine, achieving a GPA of 3.01.
“I have been highly curious about dentistry since I was young, and I never imagined myself studying any other field.”
This is how Manar describes her choice to pursue dentistry, a five-year journey that she successfully completed despite the challenges of choosing such a demanding field given her family’s social and financial circumstances.
Manar started university at the same time as Lebanon’s economic crisis. Her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, was affected by the crisis and lost his job as a civil engineer. The Fund’s financial support became the most suitable solution for Manar to continue her studies.
“My social experience at university was excellent, but the biggest challenge was financial.”
Manar describes her university years with enthusiasm and happiness, although they were accompanied by financial pressures and concerns. Dentistry also came with additional expenses for equipment, supplies, and laboratory materials. The Fund’s financial support, particularly in helping cover her university tuition, helped ease some of these burdens.
“My university accommodation overlooked the southern suburbs of Beirut.”
Manar continues by describing the difficulties and challenges she faced during the final two years of her studies amid the war. She experienced constant anxiety, which manifested physically through persistent muscle and bone pain. However, she did not allow this stress to stop her. She continued her studies with determination and dedication until graduation.
She also sometimes turned to sports as a way to relieve stress, playing basketball with her friends whenever she had the opportunity.
Manar currently works at a private dental clinic in Sidon to help support her family. She is now seeking a position at a medical clinic in Sidon as well, while working toward her ultimate dream of opening her own dental practice—something she has aspired to since she first chose dentistry.