Palestinian, from GAZA; seeking Undergraduate degree in Data science and artificial intelligence and is enrolled at University College Of Applied Sciences.
I am Rasha Abu Rkab, a 19 year-old AI/Data Science freshman at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza. I lived through 2 displacements. When my birthplace, Beersheba, fell under occupation, we moved to Maghazi camp in Gaza, only to be displaced again. We eventually settled in Deir al-Balah.
Being uprooted three times creates a feeling of wanting to belong. Memories are shattered. Childhood friendships get disrupted. . My mother has always been my anchor. She is an amazing woman, and the first among 12 male siblings to graduate college. She was a trailblazer. She had a degree in IT Engineering at a time when women were destined to be married and expected to stay at home.
Education was her number 1 priority. I followed in her tracks. My dream was to become a doctor. Regrettably, my 95% average did not qualify me to enter the school of medicine. I was very disappointed. I sought advice from relatives and agreed that I need to go for the next best thing.
I fully understand the role of AI and data sciences in our future, from simple communication to the state of the art medical applications. I settled for AI and decided to dedicate my study to AI medical applications.
This is a new major in Palestine and I hope that my colleagues and myself would be the first women to graduate with a major that has totally won me over: Artificial Intelligence.
Why Would Donors Fund You?
When I chose my major, I wished I had access to a student advisory group to help me find the right course of study.
Therefore:
- I will create courses for this topic.
- I plan to specialize in creating AI algorithms in the medical field,
- I intend to promote the presence of women in science majors.
- I want to establish institutions that support women in confronting domestic violence and gender bias, which detracts from women's rights.
How Do You Plan to Payback?
- I will start my own work, to address traffic congestion, especially at a crossroads like "Saraya Junction", the idea of creating artificial intelligence systems capable of determining the flow of vehicle traffic .
- Organizing courses on the importance of data science, for example if the trainee is a trader, through data science he can analyze buyers’ data and reach people’s needs, thus leads to an improvement in the economy in Palestine
- To this day, at least one in three women around the world experiences violence in their lifetime. So we must help amplify the voices of women in society.
Volunteer Work/Social Capital
- Volunteer in the school's guidance committee.
- I volunteered in school health at the secondary level.
- I represented my school in cultural competitions, including the Crown of Knowledge competition. I came in first among my peers in my Governorate and seventh in the Gaza Strip.
- I volunteered to attend awareness meetings at the university entitled Security fortification, which talks about the danger of technology development in our time, including the penetration of smartphones and their contents, and thus exposure to either blackmail or what is worse in our Arab society, which is the scandal.
- I was a member of the Boys Scouts team in middle school.
What Have You Done to Improve Yourself? Awards and Achievements
- ICDL from Edraak.
- PSAP: Programming Essentials in Python from Cisco Networking Academy.
- English For Freelancer from EdApp.
- Introduction to Data Analysis from Simplilearn.
- Exploratory Data Analysis with Seaborn from Coursera
- A course in first aid in Al-Quds Hospital.
*Copies of my certificates are available on my photo page 
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