00:05when I was 19 I woke up one morning with
00:08no feeling in the right half of my body
00:11I just lost sensation in that part as if
00:15a very thick layer of plastic was
00:18covering my skin I pinched myself and I
00:22scratched myself but I couldn't feel
00:24anything that day I was preparing for my
00:29first year finals in electrical
00:30engineering but by the evening I
00:34couldn't hold my pen after two weeks in
00:38the hospital and endless examinations I
00:41was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis I
00:45was devastated I felt like my body was
00:49betraying me and I was so terrified of
00:53the uncertain future I walked around
00:57weeks feeling so helpless but one
01:04evening after crying the whole day I was
01:08thinking about all the challenges that I
01:10had overcome in my life and I was
01:12reminded that in every situation I have
01:16the freedom to choose it is true that I
01:19have MS it is true that I cannot change
01:23this fact but it is also true that I can
01:26choose how I want to live my life and I
01:29choose to live my life to the fullest as
01:31if there is no MS I will take the daily
01:33treatment but I will not give up on
01:35myself I will study work hard travel go
01:38out chase my dreams with no excuses
01:41everything as before and even more
01:43because that moment that I realized that
01:48I have the freedom to choose changed my
01:50life forever it turned the MS for my
01:54biggest enemy to a gift because now I
01:58value every moment I was born in Israel
02:03to an Arab Bedouin family mad winds are
02:07nomadic Arabs they traditionally lived
02:10in tribes it's a very conservative
02:13constitute 3% of the Israeli population
02:17my father lived with two wives which is
02:20a common practice in the Bedouin culture
02:23but shortly after their marriage my
02:26mother decided to flee the village she
02:29did not want to raise her children in a
02:32place where women are inferior and get
02:35killed for reasons of what is called
02:37honour honor killings horrified my
02:40mother so she fled my father's house and
02:44she moved in a hariya a Jewish town in
02:47northern Israel there she raised me and
02:50my eight siblings on her own we were the
02:54only non Jewish family in town and I
02:57found myself on the border between two
02:59cultures the Jewish and Arab in school
03:05my siblings and I suffered from racism
03:07until one day the social worker decided
03:10that we did not fit into the Jewish
03:12society and decided to send us to a
03:15boarding school in an Arab village at
03:18the age of six I was separated from my
03:21mother I spent three years in the
03:24boarding school suffering from hunger
03:26abuse and bullying this time from the
03:30people of the village who were biased
03:33against the kids from the boarding
03:34school they considered us bad influence
03:37they didn't want us to sit next to their
03:39kids in class or even passed by their
03:42home I literally had nothing in life
03:48poor and wanted and misfit in both
03:53societies and treated as inferior with
03:57no father to protect and a mother who
04:01was far away even when she sent us
04:04birthday gifts they would be taken away
04:10but one thing that I had one thing that
04:15no one could take away from me with my
04:18thoughts and hopes for a better future I
04:21realized that I was born to this reality
04:23but I could not change it but
04:27could change my future and this hope is
04:31what God kept me going and working to be
04:33the first in my class even when your
04:37choices are limited you can always
04:40choose your thoughts and then this
04:47happened at the age of 14 I was
04:52discovered by a fashion photographer and
04:54I became the first-ever Israeli Bedouin
04:57fashion model landing large campaigns
04:59with companies such as diesel and huge
05:01amount of national exposure the phone in
05:05our house didn't stop ringing some were
05:08calling to encourage some were calling
05:10to check if I'm still alive and some
05:13were calling to say that soon I would
05:16not be I was shunned by the Arab society
05:20and my uncle threatened to cut off my
05:23head if I did not stop bringing dishonor
05:26to our family these were hard times for
05:32me but I was again reminded of the
05:35painful and brave choices my mother had
05:38made for us when she fled the village
05:40and like her I decided to live by my own
05:44values not the values of my uncle not
05:47the values of anyone else but by my own
05:50values and with my mother by my side I
05:53found the courage to push back and send
05:56a message to all the Arab girls telling
05:58them that we can pursue any path we
06:00choose and cannot be stopped by the
06:02chains of an over conservative society
06:04and what I learned from this experience
06:08is if you wish to live your life to the
06:12you must choose your own values and live
06:16your life accordingly never live by the
06:20values of others when I was 18 I decided
06:26to volunteer for the Israeli Defense
06:28Forces so I applied for the student
06:33soldier program in electrical
06:34engineering and I was rejected I was
06:40are not allowed to participate in
06:43research and development in the military
06:45and I should pick a lesser role this was
06:50painful like hitting a wall but I wasn't
06:55willing to let the IDF's tell me how I
06:58could contribute to my country or what I
07:00could or could not do so I pursued the
07:04matter aggressively I sent letters to
07:06the head of HR I called in favors and
07:09get as many people involved as I could
07:10all the commanders I reached out to told
07:13me that this is a dead end there is
07:15nothing you can do about it and you
07:17better stop wasting your time but I
07:20insisted and after a year-long struggle
07:24I became the first Bedouin in the
07:25Israeli history to enroll to research
07:27and development students soldier program
07:29I was over the moon I knew that I had
07:34won and what I learned from this
07:38experience is never let others tell you
07:41what you can or cannot do never let them
07:44limit or eliminate your choices you know
07:47yourself best and you have the freedom
07:49to choose your actions you have the
07:51freedom to stretch beyond the boundaries
07:53that other said for you
07:55if I listen to anyone who told me you
07:57can't I wouldn't be standing here in
08:00front of you at Stanford when I was
08:07thinking about the message that I wanted
08:10to deliver in this talk I wasn't
08:13thinking about you my Stanford and VA
08:17community I was thinking about girls and
08:22villages like the one I grew up in who
08:26are constantly judged and chained to the
08:29values of an over conservative society I
08:32was thinking about kids from
08:35disadvantaged backgrounds who have all
08:38the powers working against them but
08:44challenges are bound to be in life even
08:47if you made it here to Stanford my
08:53it's not because of my humble beginnings
08:56or because I'm a woman from a
09:01conservative society it is a just life
09:06when life brings challenges when you
09:11feel that life is closing in on you and
09:16you have no choices remember you have
09:23your you always have your thoughts you
09:27always have your values you always have
09:31your actions you have the power to
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