Marwa’s Story: Gaza Teen, Future Hand Surgeon
Marwa, 18, was injured in Gaza on September 13, 2025. She is in Jordan for treatment and dreams of becoming a hand surgeon. Read her story from Jordan.
Pictured
Young woman in a beige headscarf and brown sweater with her arm in a sling
FAJR’s leadership on Our TeamGoing through my own injury and treatment has made my dream even clearer.
This war has taken so many people from me. But the one closest to me was my niece. She was my best friend, and she meant everything to me. She was killed on my birthday, which was also hers. That same day, I was injured.
My name is Marwa Al-Shawa, and I am 18 years old.
Before the war, my life was simple and beautiful. I loved cooking and riding my bike, and I dreamed of studying medicine so I could help people and ease their pain.
The war changed me.
I was displaced more than ten times. Every time we moved, we never knew where safety was. There was only exhaustion, fear, and loss after loss. Since the war began, we have lost family members in ways I never could have imagined.
Seventeen people from my father’s side of the family were killed. A few days later, eleven people from my mother’s side were killed too. Then we lost my cousins, and my sister’s husband, who was like an older brother to me and someone I leaned on. Even after I was injured, we lost another cousin.
But September 13, 2025, was the hardest day of my life.
It was my birthday, and my niece’s birthday. Instead of a day of joy, it became the day we lost everything. She was killed, and I was seriously injured in my hand and body. Since then, my life has been a long road of pain and treatment.
Sometimes I feel the war made me grow up too fast. So much has changed inside me, even the way I see life. But through it all, I still say Alhamdulillah, always.
Going through my own injury and treatment has made my dream even clearer. Watching doctors work to bring movement back to injured people, I began to dream of becoming a surgeon who specializes in the nerves of the arm and hand. I want to help people who have lost the ability to move because of war, just as I am now fighting to move my own hand again.
Today, I am in Jordan for treatment, holding on to hope no matter how long the road is. I want to use my hand normally again, continue my studies, and reach my dream.
The war has taken so much from me. But it has also given me the determination to one day be the person who helps others stand up again.
Read about FAJR’s medical evacuations from Gaza and the MedEvac program, or see FAJR in Jordan.
