Lama Alshurafa studied at Mid-Prairie high school for the 2016-2017 school year as part of an exchange student program with Gaza.
Mid-Prairie High School hosted two exchange students this year.

Lama Alshurafa from the Gaza Strip and Zhan Saya-Beisenova from Khazakstan. The two students shared a host family and attended Mid-Prairie this year. Lama says she was inspired to apply for her country’s exchange student program after a friend of hers, who studied in Wisconsin, recommended it.

Lama talks about what she’ll miss in Iowa, “I will miss my friends, I have a lot of friends and I’m so attached to them. My host family of course, they’re amazing, they just help me a lot. They’re my family, I don’t know why I call them my host family but it just comes to me, I just know I have a second family in America. I will miss my teachers, I will miss the after school activities, we don’t have any in my country.” Lama says there are no after school activities in Gaza, and she said she enjoyed getting involved in school theater and speech at Mid-Prairie. Lama will be going back to Gaza on June 6, but she plans on going to the west coast and visiting Washington, D.C., before then. Lama said her favorite American food is chili.