Jawad Ali Ahmed

I believe that one’s decision is a result of both psychological and social factors as well as other experiences that had changed his view of life, the experiences that had shaped his personality, each decision we take in life is somehow related to these experiences. For me, it was all the experiences and the whole of my story that led me to join this university.

I was born in a small village called Al-Abbasiyah near the Tigris, 20 kilometers north of Samarra. I have 4 siblings; my mother is a housewife, and my father became an employee for the Iraqi government few years ago. My family belonged to the middle class, like many people there. Most citizens worked on farming and for many families it was the only source of income.

When I was younger, I was suffering from various health issues. My childhood was spent getting surgeries several times in various cities in Iraq and Syria. I was unable to play like other children due to my health concerns and being on medication forcing me to stay in bed to improve my recovery. I eventually overcame my health issues in 2012 and this paved the way encouraging me to pursue a career in the medical field so I could help others to not suffer how I did.

My father taught me the Arabic language and I was able to read, write, listen, and speak in Arabic very well before the age of 6. When I got into the elementary school my dad taught me the English alphabet and some basic vocabularies and showed me how to improve my skills in English. As I grew, I was fascinated with different arts from different cultures, mainly the western and the Japanese regions. So far, the period from 2010 to 2014 was one of the most joyful and comforting periods of my life.

In 2014, we entered an extremely turbulent and difficult time as many of my fellow Iraqis went through extreme hardships and turmoil with the regime change, civil war and terrorism which had plagued our great nation. In all this turmoil our cities and towns including my own were invaded and many of us were captured by terrorists my family and myself included. We overcame these hardships with unwavering will to survive and to succeed in life as we rebuilt our lives after these extreme situations.

I am indeed a witness of tremendous turmoil and hardship and had been trying to overcome these life altering experiences, trying to find likeminded individuals or a place I could find hope and understanding in, a means to express myself and follow my lifelong ambition to help people in my country. I didn’t have an answer till I joined AUIB. In this university I can say that I have found hope to change something about our situation, the answer was that I can’t do anything alone, I need to work with people who share the same values with me, and I found them here at AUIB. AUIB has enabled me to have the tools I required to follow my ambitions, from the expert international faculty to the world-class facilities helping us in attaining our goals. Here at AUIB, I have found my launchpad to achieve my goals and dreams, I have been taught here that with hard work and perseverance I can achieve anything.