Asmaa Hasan

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As a Palestinian refugee born and raised in Lebanon, education has always been more than a personal ambition—it has been a means of survival, resistance, and hope. I chose to study literature because it gave me the language to name displacement, to preserve memory, and to affirm the humanity of those often erased by war, borders, or bureaucracy. Stories saved me when structures failed me.

Growing up in a refugee community where opportunities were scarce, I worked tirelessly to build an academic path that could carry me beyond inherited limits. Despite financial precarity, I earned full scholarships for both my undergraduate studies in the United States and my master’s in Canada. I am now completing my PhD in English literature at the University of Guelph, focusing on Palestinian literature and refugee narratives. This work is not only about literature—it is about making space for our stories in academic institutions where they have long been excluded.

The journey, however, has not been without serious challenges. I carry with me the burden of complex PTSD, shaped by personal and collective traumas, including witnessing the systemic neglect of refugee life and surviving under the weight of ongoing crisis. The current genocide in Gaza, along with the deteriorating situation in Lebanon where my family still lives, has taken an emotional and psychological toll that has directly impacted my capacity to work at the pace I once could. These events have resurfaced trauma and placed unexpected delays in my dissertation progress.

I now find myself at the final stretch—just one semester away from completing a doctorate that represents not only my own struggle, but the resilience of generations of displaced Palestinians. However, financial hardship threatens to derail this moment. As a refugee scholar with limited access to family support, I am in urgent need of assistance to cover the costs of this final semester.