Mohammed and following one\u2019s dream. I am not talking about Mohammed the prophet – Peace Be Upon Him \u2013 who once promised a bounty hunter whilst being a fugitive to hand in King of Persia\u2019s\u2019 bracelets. Talk about a mission that was fulfilled and a vision that was lived!<\/p>\n
I am also not talking about Mohammed al-Razi; a celebrated scholar known to be a chemist, an alchemist, a physicist and a polymath. Nor am I talking about Mohammed Igbal, a poet whose poems spread throughout the Indian subcontinent and sang for hundred times by great men such as Gandhi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those who enjoy fine music might be under the impression that I am writing about Mohammed Abd el Wahab, a famous Egyptian composer, whose tunes still play to remind us that music soothes the beast within. And do forgive my words that may have led you to think that I\u2019ve meant Mohammed Ali; \u201cSportsman of the Century\u201d Oh no I am not talking about any of these mohammeds.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mohammed I meant is none other than my friend, a 19 year old Qatari kid, who walked with me through the alleys of the Exhibition center on fine a day that I will always remember. On a day that I have decided to write about, to you..<\/p>\n
yes, You .. the reader,<\/p>\n
yes You.. Tomorrow\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cMohammed sit down and tell me what is it that you enjoy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy languages, yes helping those in need and being around kids too\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
I looked around and \u201cWell, there are no circuses here! So you are not becoming a clown today\u201d I sarcastically said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait a minute..How about working at a hospital?\u201dI asked again. It seemed like fate that we stood in front of a medical institute\u2019s booth.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know Raed, I have always wanted to become a nurse, quiet uncommon I know, but to relief a pain and transform a sad face to happy one is what I always wanted\u201d he revealed to me with somewhat a worry face that I would think that this is not manly enough. \u201c<\/p>\n
Well, a nurse you shall be then.\u201d I smiled as I walked towards the booth. \u201cExcuse us\u201d I have looked around, happy that I will make a change in one\u2019s life. \u201cSomeone\u2019s dream will come true today, oh hurray!\u201d Silly me to have ever thought that. There, from his throne he descended, and from his fine chair he departed to acknowledge our existence. The official in a white thobe, our countryman yes our angel and our hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllow me to introduce to you our sponsoring package and what a fine package it is.\u201d He boastfully said.<\/p>\n
A lucrative offer he made, one that Mohammed opened his jaws at and one that made me think, \u201cperhaps it\u2019s not too late to throw away years of engineering and pursue a medical career myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cPardon my naivety; can this young man enroll in your program?\u201d I pointed at Mohammed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWell sure he can, have you taken the TOFEL?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir and I did pass.\u201d Mohammed replied with joy, it\u2019s a step towards his dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, are you married?\u201d \u201cNo…Not yet\u201d to which I have interrupted \u201cis that bad? I mean if you guys need only married people, we will get this young man married in no time!\u201d The Hr personnel laughed, and we all did. It was a good atmosphere!<\/p>\n
He went on and told us that it\u2019s not a problem at all. \u201cGREAT.. a step closer\u201d I thought to myself. But I was thrown miles away by the following statement:\u201dwell then all he needs to do, is get us an admission letter of any of the universities listed by the Supreme Council of Education\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cPardon me again, Mohammed has the TOFEL, he has all the papers you ask of him\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cGood for him, all he needs to do now is apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMohammed, you go ahead and apply and once you get accepted I will personally guarantee your scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHow am I to go about it?\u201d Mohammed asked and was puzzled as I was.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cBut he was not trained on how to write that essay, he does not how to apply!\u201d My frustration grew at my fellow countryman. \u201cYOU, of all people should know! Were you trained to apply to a western university? Is that why you fail to see?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am offering thousands, future and better prospect and all I ask in return is an admission letter from a university\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cKieta.. \u201c (Disappeared in Japanese) I heard Mohammed whisper with a smile, my giant friend whose eyes dazzled with hope a minute ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wait for a minute.\u201d I commanded Mohammed in an irritated manner, and looked at my fellow countryman who handed out his business card in a \u201cyou have a good one, now leave\u201d gesture .This person whose body was a punch away and whose mindset was far lost in dark ages. \u201cWait… Wait, how is it that you are taking any risk? And how much can this whole process cost your organization? Please don\u2019t kill his dream. Give him a chance, you should… \u201cI started rambling trying to hold on to any string of hope. \u201c<\/p>\n
Can we go, this is embarrassing\u201d Mohammed looked at me with piercing eyes, and now that I remember this looked like a classical<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cBut even the dogs eat scraps that fall from their masters’ tables.\u201d Scene. Unfortunately, the person whom we have ask these crumbs of hope was not as generous and never will be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is your right to be given a chance, it isn\u2019t a charity bestowed.\u201d I angrily answered without missing a beat.<\/p>\n
\u201cclose yet so far \u201che answered and that was how it ended as we faded away.<\/p>\n
\u00a0On that day I have learned how hopes can be crushed, how dreams can be destroyed and how spirits can be killed. And when thousands of Mohammeds lived to see their dreams come true, my friend Mohammed didn\u2019t even get the chance to.<\/p>\n
I am selfish, I have to admit for I thought of my unborn kids should they ever fall ill I just wanted the likes of Mohammed to look after them. Because I know they will look after them passionately and not as a mean to get their next paycheck. I do apologize, as I would like to come clean.<\/p>\n
And to those of you who wonder what ever has become of my friend?<\/p>\n
Well Mohammed now is an operator at a reputable petrochemical organization, where he has become part of a percentage that can impress officials and attract yet another citizen whose dreams were never meant to be.<\/p>\n
Viva Qatarization<\/span><\/strong>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mohammed and following one\u2019s dream. I am not talking about Mohammed the prophet – Peace Be Upon Him \u2013 who once promised a bounty hunter whilst being a fugitive to hand in King of Persia\u2019s\u2019 bracelets. Talk about a mission that was fulfilled and a vision that was lived! I am also not talking about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5B5q-gg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilmt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}