My name is Mariam Anechoum, I'm 22 years old and I’m a Medicine and Surgery student at the University of Catania (Italy). My father comes from Morocco, while my mother is Italian, so I was born and raised in Reggio Calabria, Italy. Although it hasn’t always been easy, I consider being mixed race ...
Hello everyone,
My name is Mariam Anechoum, I'm 22 years old and I’m a Medicine and Surgery student at the University of Catania (Italy). My father comes from Morocco, while my mother is Italian, so I was born and raised in Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Although it hasn’t always been easy, I consider being mixed race a blessing: my parents have always given me the choice to be and do whatever I preferred, and I got to know two different cultures, religions, traditions, worlds. I am a bridge between two continents. I enriched myself with all the lessons that both could teach me.
My father, Ali, grew up in Casablanca in a humble family, with eight mouths to be fed and not a lot to feed them with. He used his passion for athletics and fitness to build a future for himself, and he shared this passion with me and my sister since we were little kids. Most of all, he taught us the values of empathy and solidarity, and respecting and cherishing the differences that enrich us as a global community.
This year I finally managed to find some time between exams and internships. As a medicine student I feel like I must fully commit to my studies: I feel a strong responsibility towards the people that might be my patients in the future. An incredible inspiration in my – still long – path to becoming a doctor came from Dr. Gino Strada, co-founder of Emergency. My mother gave me one of his books Pappagalli Verdi as a Christmas present; “green parrotts” was the way people called a particular type of soviet landmine, PFM-1, because its shape and colour made it look like a bird. Dr. Strada wrote about his own experiences working as a surgeon in war-thorn countries, and reading of his total selflessness made me want do the same with my life.
So as a first step down this road I applied to a three-weeks sport volunteering program run by International Volunteer HQ, in Morocco. (https://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-abroad-projects/sports/ ).
I would be leaving on the 17th of July to live and work with other volunteers in a structure run by local organizations. I chose IVHQ for my first volunteering experience because of the feedback I received from people who already had worked with them.
( https://www.volunteerhq.org/reasons-to-volunteer-abroad-with-ivhq/ ) There’s plenty of people happy to share their stories, and encourage you to leave and spend your time in the best way possible, helping others, helping preserving their culture, their territory and their future.
I’ve always been involved in team sports – I’ve been playing basketball since I was five years old and I’ve personally experienced the positive effects that team playing has on both kids and adults. Team playing not only helps kid’s cognitive and physical growth, but it also helps in developing communication skills, and boosts empathy towards both team members and adversaries, which is a key skill in interpersonal relationships. With International Volunteer HQ’s sport volunteering program I would have the chance to take part to activities with this exact purpose, making sure that these children have a safe place to play and connect with the world and people around them.
To attend this program I must pay a Registration fee of 299US$, plus a Program Fee that for 3 weeks would be of 760US$, so this is where the whole crowd-funding ends up (every price can be checked on the IVHQ website: https://www.volunteerhq.org/volunteer-in-morocco/ ). The flight cost is NOT included, so it’s another cost to consider. The registration fee must be paid as soon as possible in order to confirm my spot in this program. Then after I pay the registration fee I will receive more information about the city I will go to, the structure I will be working in and more whereabouts. I will keep updating every time I get more information, so that you guys can follow the unfolding of this adventure of mine!
I really hope the Internet community can help me raise money for this dream of mine. I hope this will be something more than a "summertime experience", as my dream is one day to work with organizations like Emergency, and helping saving the lives of people who find themselves in the middle of unfair, unacceptable violence.
Thanks to everyone who spent time to read this and support me,
Mariam Anechoum
P.S: If you wish to contact me to verify my credits, you can email me writing to "[email protected]", or you can follow me on Instagram as "mariamchoum".
So we did it folks. We gosh darn diddly did it. And you know what that means: GIVEAWAY TIME
What you win:
200$ Amazon Gift Card
3 full body drawings. WHAT?!! I SAID 3 MY DUDES of your favorite character and/or your own character(s)! Ship pictures count as 2 of the drawings though and do know I don’t draw certain things but we can definitely talk if you’re the winner :^)!!! Check out my art tag!
My love, because I honestly love you guys so much
Rules:
You don’t have to be following me.
Likes and reblogs count as entries, but please don’t spam your followers. NO GIVEAWY BLOGS PLEASE
Giveaway ends Valentine’s Day (2/14), 10PM EST. Note: This may change because I honestly don’t know if I work that day yet and usually I get home by 10PM >___>…… So look out for updates!
If the the winner doesn’t respond within 24 hours, then I will be choosing another winner.
“Quello che ci lega agli esseri, sono le mille radici, gli innumerevoli fili rappresentati dai ricordi della serata di ieri, dalle speranze della mattinata dell'indomani; è quella trama continua di abitudini da cui non riusciamo a svincolarci.”
using languages other than your native language like
reading: i am the avatar, capable of mastering all of the languages
writing: alright, yeah this isn't so bad
listening: whoa there partner i sure would appreciate if you could you say that at half speed and repeat it a couple of times for me
speaking: let me practice this 3 word sentence 20 times in my head and look up each word in the dictionary and make sure i have all the right forms before i ever say it to another human being
2087
turnnoffyourmind
romaincrisis
areudirty
blakekathryn
stormborns
gamechangershow
pixelskylines
snowghoul
