Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
The children of Egypt are seeds of hope
Hossam Badrawi
By inviting and arranging the Education First Foundation, which I have the honor to lead its advisory council and which has taken upon itself as a pioneering civil society institution to train and prepare the principals and agents of the state’s public schools for languages, numbering more than 750 schools, as well as teachers of languages, sciences and mathematics, for a new future worthy of Egypt, with a professional management of training, and measuring the impact of Over three years, with full funding from civil society and effective cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
Among the effects of this training, for schools serving the middle class in Egypt, other projects adopted by the Foundation came out to build the personality of children and youth in these schools, raise their self-worth and self-confidence, and affirm positive values in their conscience.
My meeting this week was with one hundred and fifty male and female students from the age group 14 to 15, moving from middle school to high school. The one hundred and fifty students are academically blind and participated in a camp prepared by the Foundation with a professionalism and a positive philosophy towards practicing sports, cultural work and art to bring out the best in them, then the meeting was with me, and I called it the Theater of Dreamers of Tomorrow..
The meeting began with a question from whom I named Ghalbawi the group, asking curiously, daringly, can you introduce yourself to us more? I smiled and actually introduced myself, and we agreed that everyone who talks begins by introducing himself.
The topic of my conversation with them was that life is choices, and that each one of them has to prepare himself with knowledge and training to make the choice better in front of alternatives that will open up before them. We also talked about the future, about happiness, about achievement, and about what each of them sees themselves in the future. We talked about the family and the generation gap. We talked about technology and social media and its impact on them and on them. The conversation developed into the creation of the universe and the various theories around it.
I did not imagine that boys and girls of this age have such a beautiful presence, intelligent curiosity and a desire for knowledge.
The excited girl said to me: You tell us choices, and what if my choices are different from those of my father, what should I do?
Another said: You say that today’s jobs will disappear, what should I study to fit in with the future?
A third said: I want to know more about the theory of the creation of the universe and how this corresponds to what is said religiously.
A fourth said: Our problem, Doctor, is that the older generation of us does not understand our requirements that differ from yours.
And a fifth said: I am happy in my life, I choose what makes me happy or what makes me successful
A sixth said: I want to read all the books on your iPad.
A seventh said: What are parallel universes?
An eighth said: Do I have the right to argue with my school if she says what I think is wrong?
He said and said… Curiosity, boldness, an open mind, and questions worthy of thought and dialogue with those we think are children.
This is a great generation in Egypt, happy by nature, strong wit, numbers of conscience, worthy of us to open the doors of freedom of opinion and to deal with respect..
I told them: Discuss your family without fear, but with respect, and do not underestimate their intuition and experience, but you must find ways of persuasion. Learn and train to be able to adapt to the change in the requirements of life.. Language, systematic thinking, knowledge, and science make you more prepared to face the future and adapt to it.. Experiences accumulate, and knowledge increases, and it is important to differentiate between right and wrong, by searching and references, and discovering points of view. different and respect their owners..
They told me: What is your philosophy in political work?
I said: I may disagree with others on something, but I will defend his right to think and express this is my principle. I may object to the generality of what he does, but if he accomplishes something useful, I would welcome him. This is my course. I may love him as a human being and differ with him in opinion, so that does not spoil the affection between us. This is how I was and this is how I will be a politician.
They said: Are you an optimist?
I said: I became more and more optimistic to talk to you
They said: Is our country okay?
I said: Our country is fine and will remain history, present and future
They said: You want too?
I said: You have that
The truth is that I am the one who took the positive energy from the children and youth of Egypt.
