My name is Osama, and I am a Pharmacy student at the University of Palestine from Gaza. By now, I should have been in my fifth and final year of university, preparing for graduation and looking forward to the future I worked so hard to build.

For years, I believed that education was my path to a better life. I studied hard, dedicated myself to my degree, and eventually reached my fourth year of pharmacy school. After everything I had overcome, graduation finally felt within reach.

Then the war changed everything.

My family lost our home. My father lost his job, and our daily struggle became simply surviving. Instead of focusing on lectures and exams, I found myself helping my family secure food, water, and other basic necessities.

As the financial burden grew heavier, I could no longer afford my university fees.

I was forced to stop my studies.

Not because I wanted to.

Not because I gave up on my dream.

But because I simply had no other choice.

I told myself it would only be temporary. I believed I would find a way back soon.

But months turned into years.

While my classmates continued toward graduation, I watched my own education come to a halt.

Today, after nearly two years away from university, I still carry the same dream I had before the war.

The painful part is that I am so close.

I have only one year left before graduation.

Just one year.

One year separates me from becoming a pharmacist.

One year separates me from the future I have spent years working toward.

Yet after everything my family and I have endured, I am still unable to return and complete my final year.

What hurts me is not hard work. I have never been afraid of hard work.

What hurts is watching a dream that I dedicated years of my life to slowly slip away because of circumstances beyond my control.

I still dream of graduating.

I still dream of becoming a pharmacist.

I still dream of supporting my family and rebuilding the life that war took from us.

I have not given up.

I am only asking for the chance to finish what I started.

If you are able to help, support my story, or even share it with others, it would mean more to me than words can express.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who takes the time to read my story.

I Have Only One Year Left to Become a Pharmacist, But My Dream Is Slipping Away