Muhammad Avdol's Backstory

Chapter 3

  The school yard was quiet this day. The beaming sun rays laid brutally across the asphalt ground. The heat was too harsh for anybody to be outside. The news reported it to 99˚F (37˚C) but feels like a blazing 102˚F (38˚C). All the children stayed inside the building for their recess, residing within the dining hall. Although they had no space to play around and enjoy their everyday games, they all found ways to entertain themselves while the slow burning time passed on by. But while the students were among themselves, there was one child enjoying a quite engaging book.

  Inside a quiet classroom, sat Abdul tuning in into a fairly new book of his growing collection. "Lord of the Flies" was the book. Once again receiving it from his friend down in Cairo, he finds himself again glued to the fascinating pages about young boys seeking survival on a deserted island. The classroom he was in at that time was of his favorite teacher, Mullah Khalil. 

  Mullah Khalil is a newer teacher at the school. A young man in his late twenties, he has dedicated his life into spreading the teachings of foreign knowledge to children of the countryside. Being from the town himself, Khalil has travel vast across the world to many countries learning of different cultures and languages. He is now teaching all that he knows to the children of the school, especially to Abdul.

  Abdul shows off his new book to the Mullah. He does what he always do when encounter by someone with a book in hand, babble on and on about the book in question and not stopping until his very last breath. Khalil is although fine with this regular action, as for he is the very first person, if not his mother, Abdul comes to show off his newfound possession.

"Did you know the author, William Golding, wrote his novel as a counterpoint to the 1857 novel 'The Coral Island' by R. M. Ballantyne. I haven't read it yet, but François said that he was going to get a copy for me."

  The Mullah can proudly see the glimmer thatshined within Abdul's eyes as he talked; every time and every day, whenever thetwo are conversating among each other. They go beyond the average talk of thedaily lessons being taught and learned at the local school. Khalil knows thatAbdul is special, intelligent and highly advanced to be stuck here within thiscage. Seeing the potential of the young student, the Mullah stops the child middleof his chatter, and goes on to explain a new discovery he found himself.

"Abdul, you're fourteen, right? It's almost time for you to be looking for a secondary school soon. Have you chosen one yet?"

  He answered back with a confused no, wondering why the Mullah would be asking that type of question to him. He states that he would go to the same local school as everyone else. Continuing on Abdul tells Khalil that he has no other choice but to go there as well.

  Khalil reassures that Abdul does have a choice and he should choose a school out of town, a school that would offer him more and better education than the ones in town. He tells the student that the schools out there are full of children like himself. With an immense love for literature, a great interest in different cultures, and a towering obsession with learning.

"The schools out there are totally different then the ones here, Abdul. They actually offer you something, teach you about the world around, and let you explore the possibilities that lives out there."

  He shows the child a pamphlet for this French international school located in Cairo. Khalil tells Abdul that before coming here he work at the international school for a couple of years.

  The name of the school is Lycée La Liberté Héliopolis. Located in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt, the French international school is one of the ancient schools within the city. Founded in 1937 by the Mission Laïque Française, this school offers education in both Arabic and the French language. Students from across the country travel far and wide to attend a school like one other.