By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: Kuwait Times intern Nada Saleh Al-Oqaili is a young ambitious Kuwaiti girl who has big dreams to achieve in life. Despite her young age of only 17 years, she has already managed to achieve several of her goals. Oqaili joined Kuwait Times as a trainee which helped improve her writing skills as she describes, while her main goal was to take advantage of her summer vacation to promote her knowledge and professional experience. Oqaili spoke in an interview with Kuwait Times about her journey, training experience, life expectations and other topics. The following are excerpts from the interview:

Kuwait Times: How do you spend your day?

Nada Al-Oqaili: I try to keep myself busy throughout the day with useful things that motivate me to upgrade myself. Every day I have a time to read because I think reading helps me in managing my time. Meanwhile, I like to schedule my daily tasks and future goals that I would like to achieve in the next three months every day, and I try to divide my tasks into small goals that are more achievable.

KT: How did you learn planning your time?

Oqaili: I lived in the United States of America until I reached 10 years old. I learned the importance of managing my time there, especially that I was exposed to many bad experiences due to my lack of knowledge in time management. The school played an important role in improving this skill; they used to show us stories about successful people who achieved their goals through managing their time. Therefore, one of our first tasks was learning it. This gave me an advantage when I moved back to Kuwait and motivates me to accomplish more goals.

KT: What would you like to do beside reading in your leisure time?

Oqaili: I mostly try to communicate more with my friends, because the lifestyle in Kuwait is more social than professional, unlike in the US. While immersing myself in work, sometimes I forget to communicate with my friends. Therefore, I made a time to improve my social life. Meanwhile, to keep up my motivation, I play tennis which also rejuvenates my energy for work.

KT: What are your plans for the future?

Oqaili: I am planning to study electrical engineering, and I am happy to say that I was accepted in the University of Manchester. The reason I chose this major is because I am looking forward to inventing a cellphone that can be charged by solar power, which I think will be the future of cellphones.

Soon-to-be electrical engineering student and current Kuwait Times intern Nada Saleh Al-Oqaili.

KT: What is your perspective of life?

Oqaili: When I think of life, I remind myself by its end. While some people may think it is a pessimistic idea, it's not the same thing for me. This idea always motivates me to leave behind what could benefit others. Furthermore, this thought gives me a different life perspective: To work more on my legacy than focusing only on the general goals of life.

KT: What are the main differences that you found between living in US and Kuwait?

Oqaili: In the beginning, it was a big shock for me, and a big difference at all levels, including social and professional. Despite that, I had never felt the social life in US, unlike Kuwait, and the feeling of losing the social life versus the professional one didn't suit me. This made me think that I can take advantage of knowledge and professional experience through online platforms and still manage to live between my family and friends and practice the social life I love. For me, Kuwait is a better place to live in, in terms of safety, religion and social life. There are alternatives to life in the US that can be reached elsewhere, and that's why I plan to come back to Kuwait after I finish my bachelor's degree.

KT: Are you planning to complete your postgraduate studies?

Oqaili: I don't like to limit myself to anything. Although it may not be the right idea and I should plan for my future ahead, I am not the type of person that likes long term plans. I am a person who likes to continuously change my lifestyle. Therefore, I don't have any intentions to complete postgraduate studies unless the state gave me a scholarship that I will not refuse for sure.

KT: What are the achievements that you are proud of?

Oqaili: I achieved lots of thing this year that I was planning from a long time. Most importantly, I finally created my personal blog space under the name of "Nada". Since I was young, I practiced writing all the time and my mother encouraged me to write everything I think of, and by time, it changed my thinking and my perspective to things in life. And while I was learning it by myself, I wanted to share it with my friends. I wanted to transfer my personal experiences to people and benefit them using online platforms. After creating my personal blog, I was happy with my success. My other achievements were completing a training course in academic and business writing, while my newest achievement is joining Kuwait Times as a trainee.

KT: What are the causes that you stand for?

Oqaili: I am interested in the issue of mental and psychological diseases, in addition to the main issue that I stand for, Palestinian issue. Therefore, this year I joined an initiative called "Hiber" which was founded by my friend Haya Al-Shatti. The initiative aims to support students in Palestine to complete their university studies, and targets those who cannot afford tuition costs. We managed to collect KD 127,000 this past Ramadan to support those students to complete their studies in different fields.

KT: How did you find your experience as a trainee at Kuwait Times?

Oqaili: Since I am a journalism lover, and I used to work as a freelancer in this field, I was looking for an English-language press institution to become a trainee there. Despite my pride in the Arabic language, I am more powerful in English writing. On the other hand, I improved my writing skills to be simpler and more direct to the point I want to deliver, which gave my writing an additional value and broaden my mind in this field. It also improved my skills in communicating with people.

KT: What is your advice to your peers to develop their skills and take advantage of their time?

Oqaili: It is not a requirement that goals determine the value of a person, and there are only a few people who strive to achieve their dreams. I advise my peers who still have not found success in achieving what they want to not feel frustrated, especially that our age is between maturity and childhood. They just need to take care of their mental health, their relationship with God, set a clear goal and be open to try new things in life.

It is normal for a person not to know what he wants when he is still young but being open and accepting new things could teach them a lot. I think there is a divine message for us in every moment in our life. That should push us to think of new ideas and projects that improve us every day. Using time without purpose will not help achieve anything. So, the purpose must come before daily habits.

KT: Was there any important points in your life that changed you for the better?

Oqaili: One of the most important stages of my life that made me move to a better stage was the time in which I adhered to the spiritual side and began to pray. This helped me a lot to remove the feeling of loss that I was constantly feeling, especially the time I was still in school and I had started a business that I was able to succeed in well, but I was constantly feeling lost.