He wasn’t sure he’d done as well on the test as he wanted, but he felt it all might have been in vain anyway. There was no way he could learn whether he passed. There was no mail delivery to the refugee camps and he had no idea when test results would be announced.
He was only 4 years old when his family started calling him doctor. And the nickname stuck although it was acquired in the unlikeliest of circumstances.
“My father respected everyone’s point of view,” he said, “then ruled in a tough but fair way. Everyone did as he suggested, and I strive to make decisions the same way. After listening, I’m tough but fair.” They accepted eagerly although it meant his rising at 4 a.m. to catch several buses and often being unable to return at night when there were random curfews. Again, he ranked not only the highest in the school, but got marks higher than the school had ever seen.
The test was seldom given and that year officials had chosen a curfew day, meaning there was no transportation in or out of al-Amari. He went to bed early, rose at midnight and began walking, knowing it could take eight hours to get to the 8 a.m. start in Jerusalem. He wasn’t sure he’d done as well as he wanted, but he felt it all might have been in vain anyway. There was no way he could learn whether he passed. There was no mail delivery to the refugee camps and he had no idea when test results would be announced.
Each morning, he said, there were literally hundreds of people on a line that formed before sunrise. Around noon, embassy officials would shoo away people still outside and tell them to return another day. Nizar returned day after day. But first he needed a job. He became a stock boy in a supermarket, later he worked in restaurants, and eventually was invited to tutor slower students for money.
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