Serving Beyond Soccer

'Rising Phoenix' is a student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Sydney Spencer at sspencer9@elon.edu.


ELON – When Elon women's soccer student-athletes Jenna and Maya Abousaab boarded a plane to Jordan in the summer of 2024, they weren't traveling for vacation. Their goal wasn't even to play soccer, at least, not initially.

The twin sisters, both now juniors on the pre-med track academically at Elon, spent a week of their summer volunteering with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), a nonprofit that provides free medical care to Syrian refugees.

Both Syrian-American, the Abousaabs found SAMS through a family friend and applied to be members of the program themselves. Together, the two were accepted, and flew with their older sister to Jordan. They stayed in Amman, the capital city, while also working at the Zaatari refugee camp, the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world. 

"You can't even describe it," Maya said of the Zaatari refugee camp. "You can see pictures, and if you search it online you'll see images of Syrian refugees and the conditions of the sheltering and the housing, but when you see it with your own eyes, it's completely different and it strikes you in a way that is indescribable."

 

During their week-long mission, the twins worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, often traveling one to two hours to neighboring cities for their assigned shifts. At different hospitals and clinics, they assisted patients by performing triage, taking vitals and observing a variety of medical procedures.

"I love surgery, and this mission really confirmed that because I was able to see general surgery, plastic surgery and I was able to watch the surgeries and shadow," Maya said. "I even scrubbed in, which was pretty cool because they have injuries and issues that you won't hear of (in the United States).They don't have resources that would've solved that for someone here in the U.S.. It was very interesting to compare the medical systems, having had a decent look at the medical system here, having shadowed doctors here in the U.S., and being able to compare that to doctors in Jordan."

Beyond observing surgeries, the twins both valued the chance to connect directly with the refugees, building relationships through a shared language and culture.

"I'm really happy that I was able to have such great patient interaction and get to know the refugees and communicate with them in their native language, Arabic," Jenna said. "Dialect was slightly different so there were challenges here and there, but it was such an amazing experience opportunity. Given that I'm Syrian-American, being in a Syrian community already made me feel at home."

Maya echoed her sister's sentiment, emphasizing how meaningful it was to give back to members of their own community.

"We really wanted to give back in a medical sense and not only confirm how much we are in love with medicine but how much we are in love with community service and providing that for disadvantaged populations and underserved communities like Syrian refugees," Maya said. "There's no greater gift than giving people that, especially our own people."

While their medical work was at the forefront of the trip, the twins also had the opportunity to bring another part of their identity with them: soccer. 

Before the trip, they had talked about playing soccer with the refugees, but never expected it to actually happen.

"I remember joking with Maya before we were going to go abroad like, 'Imagine being able to play soccer with the refugees,' but we never thought that was going to be possible because conditions are very poor and we're there for a medical trip," Jenna said.

Fortunately for them, a soccer clinic was organized at the Zaatari refugee camp, and it just so happened to fall on the same day that they were on site. Both Maya and Jenna jumped at the chance to participate.

"When they hosted the soccer clinic, I immediately heard that that was going on and I went to some people and I was like, 'Please, I want to go, this is who I am. Soccer is a huge part of my life,'" Maya said. "Being able to play with Syrian refugees on the field was the most rewarding moment of my life. I just felt like I was giving back because soccer is who I am."

Jenna recalled the joy on the children's faces and said she was amazed at the powerful effect soccer had on them.

"When I say that the kids were so happy, I've never seen such bigger smiles just to be able to kick a ball around with other people," Jenna said. "Conditions were still poor. Some kids had one cleat, no cleats, two cleats, but it was such an incredible experience. I was on the field and I had to take a step back and just look and see how happy they were."

That day in particular, on top of their medical work, left a lasting impact on both Jenna and Maya, shaping how they view life, gratitude and their time on the soccer field.

"Seeing how happy they were on the field, I have no excuse to not be that happy or to not want to be that happy, because what else is there to live for?" Maya said. "I'm so healthy, I'm young, I have great resources here and I go to university. You can't ask for more than that. I made a promise to myself to not take anything for granted and live every day like it could be my last on the field."

Jenna built on her sister's reflection, recognizing how many of the trip's lessons and experiences they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

"It was a very big reminder of the little things in life and it touched on my gratitude and just taking a step back and seeing how much there is going on in the world," Jenna said. "To be able to play soccer at a university, on a bigger stage, I'm going to take those memories with me to make it my whole being when I'm on the field."