Yara Doumit channels her energy toward helping others after her home country, Lebanon, experiences a financial crisis and devastating explosion.
This is the first version of the article written by a Kogod School of Business writer.
The last thing that Kogod student Yara Doumit told me was that she was offered a position with Amazon post-graduation as a DC area manager…and she didn’t even have to apply!
“It came out of nowhere,” says the business administration major with a specialization in finance and a minor in legal studies. “They reached out to me and said they saw my LinkedIn profile, read my resume, and saw some articles about me. They liked my leadership abilities.”
In the past year alone, Doumit has had more opportunities than time available especially during times of crisis. She is from Lebanon and her country has been not only dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, but they have also dealt with a crippling and enduring financial crisis, and are rebuilding following a devastating explosion earlier this year which left over 300,000 Beirut residents temporarily homeless, and took the lives of more than 200 victims.
Doumit wanted to start off telling me about the financial crisis because there has been so little media coverage. It began on what is known as the October 17 Revolution, in 2019. However, a Google search won’t bring up much information, which is exactly the problem that many Lebanese students who are studying outside of the country are faced with right now.
“When you go online and you search ‘what’s the value of one Lebanese pound’ it will still show you the same value as it was four or five years ago. The only current rates you can find are from the black market,” says Doumit. “Only small news sources, like this one, are writing about it because you’re actually inquiring about it, but imagine telling your university why you can’t pay your tuition all at once and not having any way to show them why? Our currency dropped against the US dollar tremendously. It’s worse than even during the civil war.”
The banks are restricting transfers of money abroad. “They have the numbers in their systems, but they don’t have the cash against it,” says Doumit. Her parents have been able to send her $100 or $200 a week. This is affecting Lebanese students not just in the US, but across the globe.
“Then, after the explosion, there was no way to exchange your Lebanese pounds with the bank, you had to go to the black market and it would be ten times the normal rate,” says Doumit. “Lebanese students were paying ten tuitions, and people were protesting, asking to just let the students finish their educations because it’s embarrassing everyone in front of their universities to not even have proof of what was going on.”
Doumit and her friends talked about how they could present the situation to their universities, how to talk to their financial aid offices, how to prove the situation when the internet isn’t showing current information, etc. Since so many people were having the same problem, Doumit chose to take action.
“I had many meetings with Dean Delaney and Kogod’s associate dean for undergraduate programs, Casey Evans. I explained I would pay, but it was going to be a slow process because of the limits from the banks . They were so understanding. We did a big meeting with all the concerned departments and all the fees that were on my account were removed,” says Doumit. “My friends we’re contacting me for help, so I shared how I communicated with my university and I started circulating the letter that I used as proof–it was signed by lawyers in Beirut and many banks. Over 200 students ended up using this letter.”
But that’s not all, Doumit took her action even further, making groups with lawyers, parents, embassies, consulates, and more to send more templates of letters to universities. “Newspapers and previous politicians started to get in touch with me and they said let’s make this a law to help students who are currently in university finish their degrees by letting people transfer money at the previous rate for tuition,” says Doumit.
This became the Student Dollar Law. Over 3000 students have already benefited from the law that Doumit helped put into place. “It really is all because of the support from Dean Delaney and Casey Evans. They showed me that it was possible, and we have many alternatives to the situation, and we could make it work,” says Doumit.
Doumit also received support from Kogod professor Meredith Burnett, who helped with the template for a letter to universities explaining the new law, as well as Kogod professor Tim Timura, who conducted an independent study for credit called Lebanon Financial Case Study after seeing how scared Doumit was of the financial crisis. “We researched it and published everything,” says Doumit.
Fast forward to the end of the summer when the explosion in Beirut occurred. This explosion was caused by ammonium nitrate stored at the city’s port and it was the third largest explosion in history.
“Everyone thought it was happening within their own building. We thought it was either terrorism or an earthquake,” says Doumit. “It was the worst sound you could ever hear in your entire life.”
Doumit was watching a movie with her friends at the time of the explosion. They panicked and ran down ten flights of stairs to the street where they were confronted with the horrifying reality of what had happened.
“Everyone around us was covered in blood. The street was covered in shattered glass. No one was thinking about COVID anymore. My friends and I weren’t injured so we immediately started driving hurt people to the hospital,” says Doumit. “For a month straight we didn’t sleep, we just kept helping those in need. Blocking windows with paper and aluminum because insurance companies were broke from the financial crisis and couldn’t help.”
Doumit and the other young people of Beirut rallied to provide relief. They worked with several NGOs to distribute food, ovens, washing machines, and other essentials to those in need. “Because we were on the ground helping we could see which areas needed certain things more. I was just thankful that my family only had material destructions, but I was able to provide help for other people so that’s all I did,” says Doumit. “The feeling of reward that I got from being able to help rebuild the city is enough.”
Now, Doumit is looking at a transition from her part-time job with the Import-Export Bank of the US to her role as DC Area Manager with Amazon. She’s going to gain all of the experience that she can so that she can bring it back to Lebanon later. With her resourcefulness and ability to take action, there is no doubt that Lebanon will be welcoming her expertise with open arms when she is ready to return.
“Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who can help you. If you actually share what the problem is your university will support you.” Focus on where you are naturally pulled and employers and others will notice your value.