“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” - W. B. Yeats
The above captures perfectly my first lesson with Raghda as well as the other 99 lessons that have followed since. I remember my thoughts prior to that lesson clearly. The best I hoped for was the ability to say a few things in Arabic. I thought that reading and writing Arabic were beyond me. I remember the fear I felt when Raghda said: “You can and you have to learn to read and write” with a calm confidence full of certainty. Like Prometheus, she gave me the gift of fire. She brought light to a place that was hijacked by doubts and fear.
I remember how emotional I got the first time I saw an Arabic sign on the street and I could read it. It was the feeling of reconnecting to something dear that was lost or forgotten. I can now read, write, listen to and speak Arabic.
Great teachers are rare. Teachers that change your life however are even rarer. Raghda belongs to the latter.
Thank you Raghda.
...اقرأ المزيد