Studying in the face of all resistance

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When civil war first broke out in Syria, Rim Edelbi was just 14 years of age. The school was a long way away from her home in Hama, so she spent a long time commuting every day. Her parents were deeply worried about their daughter, but Rim wanted to continue her schooling despite the dangers. “After all, we were the country’s future,” the now-26-year-old says. The family stuck it out in Syria until their daughter graduated from high school, but then decided to leave the country. “We no longer had a life. There was nothing we could do or even dream of doing.”

As they fled the war-torn country, the family was separated. Her mother and younger brother made it to Germany, while Rim and her other siblings got stuck in Türkiye. She had to wait about a year before she, too, was allowed to move to Germany as part of a family reunification arrangement. A year in which she was never sure whether she would ever see her family again. Since she had only just turned 18, strict immigration controls applied to the young Syrian girl. For all her tears, however, she never gave up hope and even began learning German. By the time she left Türkiye, she had already reached language level A2.

Germany at last!

Rim vividly remembers her first day in Germany: “It was like a dream for me.” Again and again, she asked her mother to wake her up, she recalls with a laugh: not just because she was now able to hold her mother in her arms again after a whole year, but also because she knew that she would be able to continue learning and begin to study in Germany. “This country gave me hope.” Chemistry was her chosen subject, as she had always enjoyed this the most back at school in Syria.

Getting a place at LMU was not easy. “When I told the lady at the Immigration Office, she just laughed,” Rim says, thinking back. “But I told her that this was my dream and recounted everything I had already achieved in life.” That had an effect. She immediately helped Rim to contact LMU’s International Office and sign up for the language courses. Here, too, she was warmly received by the people. Despite having to start a new life in a new culture, she quickly reached the necessary level of language proficiency: “I knew that language was the key.”

First steps at LMU

Thanks to special LMU programs, two students helped Rim get on board at the university. She is very grateful for all the help she has received since arriving in Munich. On occasion, she has had bad experiences on public transport linked to her appearance or her religion. For the native of Syria, Germany has nevertheless become her second home. She has since also passed the integration test and officially become a German citizen: 310 questions to which not even German natives always know the answers.

At LMU, she started out by studying pharmaceutical sciences, a mixture of chemistry and pharmacy. Her aim was to focus on pharmacy, but places are hard to come by. “My plan was to switch to pharmacy later on,” she says. Many women in Syria choose to study this subject. However, the two courses were very similar and, since she enjoyed working in the laboratory, she decided to stay where she was for the time being. Then, thoroughly enjoying her tuition and experiencing success, as she had in Syria, she spontaneously opted to pursue a dual course of study.

Finding the right study/life balance

Studying for a double degree is very strenuous. It is all the more astonishing to find that Rim is also a mother who takes care of her son alongside her two courses and the long hours spent in the laboratory. When her son is asleep, she can usually be found sitting at her desk late into the night. “I have often thought that I can’t go on,” she admits. Especially when he was a baby. When the pandemic then meant that all exams had to be done online, she wanted to give up. “I still have the draft e-mails from back then in my mail client,” she says. But that now motivates her never to give up, because she never sent them.

Throughout this time, the Germany Scholarship has helped her financially. “While studying pharmaceutical sciences, I had to do a laboratory internship in every subject,” she explains. It was impossible to find a part-time job that she could reconcile to studying in the morning, working in the laboratory in the afternoons and looking after her son in the evenings. Apart from that, everyone needs a break from time to time. “The Germany Scholarship gives me the chance to strike a balance between child-care and my studies,” the 26-year-old says. She is tremendously grateful for that.

She is equally appreciative of the support of her husband. “Ever since I applied to LMU, my partner has always encouraged me to keep learning and not give up. He is the only one who believed in me from the word go, while others saw my plans as impossible dreams.”

After graduation, Rim wants to stay in Germany: “I now have two homes,” she says with a smile. But she cannot yet say where she will end up. “There are so many exciting areas in research and in industry.” Especially with her work on active agents and pharmaceutical products, she says that she can help lots of people. But wherever the road leads: “I want to keep working, keep improving myself and still be there for my child. And I want to make sure that he, too, can one day study in a land that is at peace.”