7/11/2025–|Last update: 05:24 (Mecca time)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Affairs celebrated its goodwill ambassador Maya Ghazal, the Syrian refugee, who became the first to obtain a certificate authorized by the leadership of a Syrian commercial plane from a refugee background in the world.
Maya graduated from a decade from her arrival in the United Kingdom as a young refugee, and officially obtained the certificate that the Boeing 737 aircraft was driving as a second officer.
The delivery ceremony of the certificate – at the Airbis Bristol Museum, west of England – encountered the tenth anniversary of Maya’s arrival in the United Kingdom of a teenage refugee.
The Syrian young woman grew up in the capital, Damascus, and said that she never imagined how her formative years would change.
“I was living in Syria an ordinary childhood. I had a big family and a lot of friends, and I loved my house and I was proud of my country,” she said in a speech by the way.
“Then the war came and had to change the school 3 times, because each of them was bombed,” she added.
After Maya’s father realized that his family was in danger, he traveled to Europe and obtained a refugee status in the United Kingdom, which allowed Maya, her mother and young brothers to join him through a program to reunite families.
Maya added, “When I arrived in the United Kingdom, many schools refused me because they did not know how to deal with my Syrian educational certificates.”
She went on to explain that her feeling bored and lonely was “very frightening, and I felt as if my future had evaporated” before she added, “but after months I got a place in a college.”
“I was one day with my mother near Heathrow Airport, so the scene of the aircraft broke out as it took off and landed. I just wanted to sit and watch it throughout the day. Then I decided that I wanted to become a pilot.”
For any young man or young woman, aviation training is a hard and competitive path, as only 5% of the world’s pilots are women, and I highlighted that she was told, “You cannot do that, but I wanted to prove the opposite.”
The young refugee continued to challenge and learned English, then obtained a university degree in aviation engineering, and in 2023 she was chosen to join a 19 -month intensive training program for TRUA.
She stated that flexibility is essential in training the two pilots, and she added, “There were difficulties, but it is great to be in the cockpit,” considering that the moment you control the plane means that you control your path.
It is noteworthy that Maya has been appointed ambassador for the goodwill of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2021, and has since used her voice to call for safe legal paths and refugee education, and she believes that its wings are “a symbol of hope and a reminder of the need to continue to support others.”
