Meet TRAFIG Team member Rola Faris Al-Massad

Meet Rola Faris Al-Massad - a member of the TRAFIG research team at Yarmouk University, Jordan - and find out more about her experience, her motivation and her work in the TRAFIG project.

I am Rola Faris Al-Massad, a Ph.D student in Psychological Counseling at the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk University. My academic journey started after 13 years of discontinuity - I was lucky and started to study Psychological Counseling in 2012. I found it difficult, but I persisted, and eventually, I finished my Bachelor’s degree with a very good grade and then continued studying for my MA degree in the same specialty at the same university and faculty. In 2018, I joined the International Assembly of Peace to represent Jordan for one round, and I participated in an international conference that was held at Yarmouk University on April 26, 2018 - it was my first interaction with activities concerning peace, helping refugees and the vulnerable in neighboring countries, and how can we be peace-loving and care for persons affected.

Photo: Rola Faris Al-Massad

Since then, my interests began to turn towards helping and volunteering in this humanitarian field, as I believe that love and kindness towards others helps us develop happiness and peace for others around us, regardless of their dialects, ethnicities, and religions. After some time, I met Dr. Fawwaz Al-Momani, whom I admire for his achievements with the Syrian refugees’ projects, and he introduced me to the TRAFIG project. I was hoping to join as a volunteer, but was pleased to be chosen by Dr. Fawwaz to join the project as a field researcher. In the beginning, I was a little afraid of this new experience as I have to meet new people, but the importance of the TRAFIG Project's objectives and my own beliefs in helping others as well as my belief in peace and stability made me overcome all barriers of fear.

I started working in Ramtha, one of the largest cities that received refugees and displaced persons from Syria because it is a border area between Jordan and Syria (Daraa). I was assigned to work on the Connectivity and Mobility theme, which is a crucial issue because it concerns what refugees have experienced in Syria – including questions about how their displacement experience began, the reasons that forced them to flee, the question of how they manage to live in a country of displacement and what their hopes and aspirations are for the future (the findings of my research on these aspects are documented in TRAFIG Working Paper No. 6). I heard many stories, I sympathized with people, and I cried with others due to the heartbreaking stories I heard from them. On the other hand, I faced another challenge during the interviews as some of the participants thought that I can be their savior; however, I explained to them that that I am only a field researcher in a multi-country project.

I have learned a lot from this experience: I gained knowledge, self-confidence, and hope, and learned how a person can confront difficult and harsh circumstances, I learned not to give up, I learned that freedom is our most valuable possession, I saw sacrifice, fear and love, and that surrender is a weakness, and there is no meaning for life away from the homeland...

Finally, I am proud of my achievement and work as a field researcher in this unique international project. I am proud to work as a team member with Dr. Fawaz Al-Momani and with Dr. Tamara Al-Yakoub, and Dr. Rasheed Al-Jarrah and all my field researchers’ colleagues.

Finally, I would like to say that: Among the difficulties, hope appears in the form of people which life has placed on our way to see life in a more beautiful light. There are rare souls, whose hearts have peace that reflects on others. There are souls as gifts from heaven which have descended and melt away all the accumulated sorrows. These souls plant hope in us from which we tasted sincerity, love and respect.

I would like to share with you my latest painting, which represents a Palestinian woman.

Painting by Rola Faris Al-Massad

The views and opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the TRAFIG Consortium or the European Commission (EC). TRAFIG is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.