Jerzen Beni (Jerzen Benny) is from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. His parents lived in India but moved to the Gulf region before Jerzen was born. Currently, Jerzens is a final-year medical student at Riga Stradins University (RSU) and is undergoing internal medicine practice in pediatric cardiology at the Children’s Clinical University Hospital.
What sparked your interest in your specialty?
Ever since entering the medical study program, I knew that cardiology was the field in which I wanted to work. I really like the heart. Many people do not want to study the heart because they think it is a complicated organ.
My parents are engineers, so I believe that the heart is a mechanical pump in a sense. That seems logical to me.
Physics was one of my favorite subjects in high school and I have loved pediatrics since I was a child. I never really thought that I would become a doctor or that I would want to study medicine, but when I started thinking about it, pediatrics was always in my mind. I really like working with children. Maybe it’s because when I was a kid, one of the doctors I liked and got along with was my pediatrician. It didn’t really occur to me that there is a subspecialty that combines both of these specialties.
Please tell me a little more about why you even wanted to become a doctor!
As a child, I really liked science and especially biology. I always felt that it would be good to choose a career related to biology, and there are many career options when studying medicine.
What are the modern myths about the UAE and how would you dispel them?
When I meet someone here for the first time and they find out I’m from the Emirates, specifically from Dubai, the first reaction is usually, “Oh, skyscrapers and sand!” But this is an incomplete picture!
Yes, we have skyscrapers, we have an impressive skyline and of course there is a part that is just desert – the whole country was basically built on sand in 1971, so it’s a very new country. That is why many buildings and structures are considered brand new even though we have old forts as well.
In many ways people ignore the country as a whole and focus only on Dubai and maybe the capital Abu Dhabi. But we generally have a lot of nature, but not nature in the European sense. For example, we don’t have forests, but there are rocky mountains if you go more north or northeast.
There are differences among the population. The local population – Emirati Arabs – are very friendly and hospitable, but they are a minority in their country. Only about 11% of the population are local, true Emirati Arabs, so you’re unlikely to encounter them. Expats make up the majority of the population, and I’d say the majority come from countries like India, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.
It was a great place to grow up. I don’t speak official Arabic, but I can speak the local Emirati dialect when I’m out and about. It is one of the many dialects that each emirate or region has, and Modern Standard Arabic is commonly used in news channels and government communications. Our family tried their best to integrate and get to know this country, and not just stay in the bubble of their country of origin, as many people do.
How did you find RSU?
I wanted to study abroad because I thought it would open doors to adventure and new opportunities. I originally applied to study in Italy, and although I was accepted, I ultimately decided not to go there.
I ended up applying to other universities, looking at reviews and rankings, and RSU was the first to respond. I found RSU attractive because studying medicine is very practical, so I decided to just transfer here.
What challenges did you face when you came to RSU?
In the beginning, when I moved here, I was fresh out of high school, so I applied my high school lifestyle to my studies and everything else. I was also affected by the fact that I moved to a completely different country, a completely different continent, which I had to get used to. Because of these two factors, I needed a bit of an adjustment period. Fortunately, it didn’t affect my studies too much.
I wouldn’t say I struggled, but it took me a while to figure out my rhythm. Ever since I’ve been able to do this, things have gotten a lot easier.
How do you manage to find the right way to cooperate with representatives of different cultures and maintain mutual respect in the international environment of RSU?
I really enjoy the multicultural environment. Part of that is because Dubai, where I’m from, is a very multicultural city. You can meet people from everywhere there, and that’s something I really appreciated as a kid.
When I was little, there was an opportunity to celebrate different holidays, because one neighbor celebrated Christmas, and another celebrated the Feast of Sacrifice, or “Eid al-Adha”. Therefore, when I got to RSU and specifically to my group, everything seemed familiar.
We were a very international group – from Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, and I from the Emirates. I like being in such an environment and experiencing the differences in cultures. Of course, one must be self-aware and respect the culture and traditions of other nations.
You were one of the first students to receive the RSU Student Ambassador Scholarship…
This scholarship commits to becoming an ambassador for RSU and spreading information about the university to potential students internationally. I lead YouTube channel where I upload videos about studies at RSU and etc. Right now it’s down because I haven’t had time to sit down to make and edit videos.
What are your future plans?
I really enjoy pediatric cardiology and working with the current team at Children’s Clinical University Hospital, however, it is a very complex subspecialty, so residency will take more time.
I would love to move to another European country, but part of me thinks I should go back home. A good idea would be to become a consultant or specialist and then return to Dubai to work as a doctor. There are many private healthcare services in the United Arab Emirates. We also have public hospitals, but most hospitals are private. Doctors are usually very well paid for their work, but of course the necessary qualifications are required. I’m kind of in the middle of figuring out where I want to go, where I want to be, and hopefully everything will work out.
Tags: feel home multicultural environment RSU
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