“It was August 2022 when I got paid for a job for the first time. I brought Dr Refaat a pizza, his favourite, to thank him for teaching me the skills I needed,” writes Alia Kassab for Al Jazeera.

“Without Dr Refaat, I would still be scribbling, not daring to share a word I wrote. I wouldn’t know how a pun works, what a metaphor is or how to be a loyal translator.

“When I became a senior last year, I managed to do a course with him in the summer semester, and it was worth the juggling I had to do to manage to attend,” Kassab says.

“What I didn’t know back then was that it would be the last time he would teach me.”

Read the full story here.

Refaat Alareer was a poet, professor and writer from Gaza. — Photo via X
Refaat Alareer was a poet, professor and writer from Gaza. — Photo via X

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