Knowledge, Reign O’er me - Atif Mahmood

“Do you know any shapes?” I asked Mona, a shy, burka-clad, 18 year-old girl from Somalia. She looked at me with a blank look on her face. She had never heard of the word ‘shape’ before. So I drew a circle in her notebook, to be greeted with an enthusiastic nod of the head.

“Daira!” she said in Arabic.

I made a mental note of her revelation and could not help smiling widely. After a year of Arabic at Duke, I still did not know the names of simple shapes in Arabic. Mona taught me, and in an interesting role-reversal, the teacher became the student, the student became the teacher.

During break time today, I headed over to two other Somali girls, Asli and Sameeha. They love to talk, and I love to listen. I learnt how the UN gives them 200 Egyptian pounds a month since they are unaccompanied minors. But within a year or so, they would not be teenagers any more, and their stipend will dry up. Work is hard to come by in overpopulated Cairo. They have little options, and are uncertain about their future.

I changed the topic and started talking about Somali culture. We talked about food (I’ve eaten some Somali food cooked by the refugees here. It reminds me of Indian food, especially the samosas). We talked about wedding dances. We listened to some Somali music, and I translated two Bollywood songs from Hindi into English. (Apparently, Bollywood movies are popular in Somalia. Almost every Somali refugee I’ve talked to has heard of the Khans – Shahrukh Khan, Amir Khan and Salman Khan – members of Bollywood’s acting elite.) A few days ago, Sameeha and some her friends had taught me how to name various body parts in Somali. That day, they explained the political situation in Somalia as well (Wikipedia took care of stuff lost in translation).

Our small, dusty, cramped, ramshackle of a classroom would appear to be totally unfit for any learning. But for five hours a day, knowledge of all shapes and sizes (and languages!) reigns over this dilapidated place. My students, my friends, possess a wealth of knowledge I have yet to tap into. Sadly, our small, little, intellectual kingdom is destined for doom. With that realization, I hope we all can get the most out of this Duke Engage experience.