A Story of a Woman Who Fulfilled Her Dream at the Age of 60

Nadia Omar is an example of persistence and determination. She graduated from University at the age of 60. Before the graduation she had gone through a number of complications that almost killed her dream of pursuing her studies. But because of her persistence and determination, she was able to survive and fulfill the dream.

We at JustPost were inspired by Nadia's story. Thus, we decided to share her inspirational story with you hoping that she inspires you to pursue your dreams. Enjoy!

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Did I have a dream or did the dream have me?

My dream is so old. It is forty years old nowadays! It all started back in 1973, when I graduated from Schmidt's Girls College in Jerusalem and never had a chance to pursue my studies. I was Born and brought up in the holy city of Jerusalem and moved to live in Jericho after my marriage to a prominent landlord in the Jordan Valley. At this stage of my life, I started to feel that my dream started to fade away which was a great challenge to me because Jericho is totally different than Jerusalem or any other city. This area relied completely on the agricultural sector at that time. In other words, Jericho is entirely isolated from any other city as it had its own atmosphere back then. I also faced another challenge which was bringing up a productive and fruitful family. This was the dream and the sacred goal to almost every young woman at that time. For many years, I had to apologize to my dream for not being able to fulfill and at the same time to keep up with reading and books, and to follow up my children's studies.

However, I am a mother for four daughters and four sons. Two of the daughters and two of the sons are married with 12 grandchildren. Thank God that all of the eight are college graduates.

At tough times, the dream seemed to have vanished, but it would come up again after the hard time has gone. In the 90s, Alquds Open University established a branch in Jericho which was a great relief to me! Now I might go for the dream i've always dreamt of. I have a GCE certificate (General Certificate of Education) which would easily allow me to enroll in the Open University. By this time, Shireen my eldest daughter and Mohammed my second son had already enrolled in colleges. Hence I had to find a way out! My husband was paying tuition for two of our children; who would fund mine? So why not sit for al-Tawjihi (General Secondary Examination) and to have honors in order to get a scholarship? al-Tawjihi again? I have passed it once. . . Yes, that was the only solution. In 2005; I registered for al-Tawjihi along with my third son Ibrahim. Thankfully, we both passed the exams!

I passed with a very high average of 94.6. I was the first on the governorate of Jericho. This promoted me to two scholarships; one from the American University in Jenin and the second from Alquds Open University in Jericho.

My dream was almost there!!!

With the spirit of a 20 years old student, I joined AOU in Jericho and started my program of Education-teaching English as a second language. That was the utmost joy in my life. My average would tell that. I was the first on AOU in all of its branches around the country. I got a cumulative average of 93.Unfortunately, it dropped to 88 on graduating! and all of that is at the age of 60.

All went well until the year of 2010!

Fate interfered again. My husband got seriously sick to a point that I had to quit studying. He had a severe stroke which turned our lives upside down. After a span of 38 years of marriage, my husband passed away. It was the time to quit. Nothing can compensate what I lost! But. . . With grief and sorrow, I thought that resuming my studies would be the most and the only alleviating next step. I only had three more courses to go. I returned to the university and graduated after two years after the crisis. Due to my persistence, the Head of AOU, as well as the Dean of Students Affairs, promised to give me a scholarship to resume for a Master. At this point, I felt obliged to pass my gratitude to both Doctors for the precious gift they offered me.

Likewise, I feel grateful to the people who founded AOU because without them I would have never achieved my dream. I would like to thank each and every member of my precious family for their endless support and help and I humbly dedicate my graduation to the souls of my father and my husband and closest friend Mahmoud Hamdoni hoping that their souls rest in peace!

This is my advice to all of you; age is just a number and you will never be too old to fulfill your dream. Chase your dreams and do not let anything to be an obstacle between you and what you want.

I did it, so all of you can too.

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