Muhamad Doufesh

In the future, I would like to become a Doctor and help all people no matter what.

The ancient table that represented my mother’s passion was laying lonely behind an isolated old window in our basement. The window that witnessed the brutality of occupation, and the resilience of the occupied. The table that ripped apart what I knew about myself and the world around me, and shaped my new worldview. This table brought back memories of the bedtime stories that my mother used to tell me. The stories about an award-winning table tennis player that viewed this sport as a reflection of her energetic and smart personality.
One day in the summer of 2010, my mother informed me that the champion of my bedtime stories was her! She revealed that she was the one who won several tournaments back when she was young. She was the hero that had the greatest amount of motivation and anticipation to become a prominent player, yet due to the fact that Palestine was occupied by Israel, she missed the opportunity to have a coach to train her, a team to host her skills and a table to play on. After table-tennis became more known in Palestine, my parents bought the crooked table that I was, in the basement, staring at and it was the table that I was able to give a second life.
I’m a Palestinian, who was born during Palestine’s second uprising (the second intifada). I was elevated to see people being killed and injured to achieve the blind freedom. I am a Palestinian who is not deterred by a comment like “table tennis is not for short and weak kids". This comment, made by an older player had only made me more determined to live my dream. Thus, I chose to continue the legacy of my mother. The training started rough. After three whole years of training with my mother, I was able to convince my school coach to conduct a local Table Tennis tournament that aimed to showcase the Palestinian youth and their capabilities in this sport. After reading my long and articulate letter that explained the positive influence of such a tournament on young Palestinians, my coach decided to evaluate my skills. When he saw my positiveness and confidence, he finally accepted my suggestion! We together moved to the planning phase. We invited many schools to the event, booked the hall and the meals, gathered the equipment, and we were sported by different media reporters and photographers.
The event day came, and I was super thrilled, yet at the last minute, we received a huge number of calls about players trapped in the Israelis checkpoints. As a result, the event was canceled. Yes, I felt depressed and heartbroken, yet, that hopelessness helped me improve and become a table tennis trainer in my school to help younger youth to master the game. Not only that, the next year I persuaded the principal to establish student clubs at school, to ease the stress of academic studies on students. I was assigned the head of the sports club there. Thus, I planted the greatest motivation in the lives of each player and I wrote in the same year a letter to the sports minister in Palestine inviting him to conduct a table tennis tournament on the first hand, and to improve the quality of sports in Palestine on the second hand, fruitfully, After a few weeks the table tennis tournament was conducted and the player I trained won the 2nd place.
I will overcome the obstacles that my mother faced, as one day I'll become the coach for the Palestine national team for table tennis to stand against all odds and conquer the achievements that my mother aspired for. The blind-freedom that every Palestinian wish for will one day be granted, the image that I saw from my ancient old window will be filled with happiness and joy and the ancient table will be the witness of my future.

Playing sports: Especially Swimming and Soccer.
Debating and travelling
Playing video games
Making new friends
Adventure