Helping My Community

Listen to Mostafa El Ghosein, ANERA's in-kind warehouse manager and pharmacist in Gaza

 

 

 

Mostafa at his desk

 

Mostafa doing a careful inventory

Mostafa carefully checks every inventory before he distributes supplies to clinics and hospitals in Gaza

Mostafa El-Ghosein, warehouse manager and pharmacist

“The more one helps people, the more people will help him,” this is my belief on both personal and professional levels. My role models are my older brother and sister. They are 10 years older than me and went to medical school in Egypt. I think I chose pharmacy studies to follow in their footsteps because I admire them so much. I wanted to be in the health sector so I could help more people too. For me, a pharmacist’s work is all about helping cure diseases and alleviating pain.

I studied in Philippines 20 years ago and then managed a pharmaceutical warehouse in South Africa. It was so rewarding. I have learned so much about other cultures and learned other languages. It helped me develop a global approach to life.

Back in Gaza in 2002, I was reading an advertisement in the newspaper and saw ANERA was looking for someone to manage its medical in-kind program. I thought it was a way to combine my skills and experience as a pharmacist and manager. My highest priority is to ensure that all procedures are legal and follow all rules and regulations. Quality of service is the key because we are dealing with the health of my people.

It gives me great satisfaction to know that through my work, clinics and hospitals are benefiting from the medicines they might not otherwise have. Thanks to ANERA’s distribution of donated medicines, poor patients can have access to medication almost free of charge. I know how hard it is for some families to pay for medicine, especially those with chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes.

Gaza has great shortages of medical supplies. Thankfully, through my work, I can help our community. After all, we don’t live alone. For me, success is not selfish. It is all about helping others.

I have four wonderful children and I want to be a good role model for them too. I can’t force them into health work or any other studies. I can only advise them. They have the right to choose their own futures but I believe they will pursue something that will also benefit our community.

Date Modified: April 2011