He wasn't one of those pampered babies who were born with silver spoons in their mouths. On the contrary, he was born to an average -truth be told, below average- family in a low-class district in old Cairo. His mother got married to his father when she was fifteen, owing to the fact that her own parents had no longer been able to support her and had to marry her off to the first man who came along. Moreover, his father was also married to another woman.
Born as the eleventh child for his father and the fourth child for his mother (not counting stillbirths and siblings who died in their first two years), with three more yet unborn siblings still to come, he wasn't exactly a dream come true for his parents. Toys? He didn't have any toys. It was a very unstable time in Egyptian history, and all the children of that generation didn't generally own toys due to the fragile economic state of the country under the socialist rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In addition, he was born in the aftermath of the 1956 tripartite aggression which destroyed the country's economy even more. With that in mind, it's easy to imagine what it was like for a little boy in such a big family.
His idea of fun was having wrestling matches with his brothers and playing football out in the alley he lived in. His mother was pregnant more often than not, and had to care for three other children simultaneously. She was never able to pay attention to him or submit to his every whim like mothers do nowadays. She had to cook three giant meals every day, tend to his baby brothers and sisters, nurse the sick to health and wash all their clothes manually on an ancient washboard. It was now some time in the late 1960's, after the 1967 war with Israel which cost Egypt the Sinai. With every available resource at his disposal directed towards funding offensives against Israel, President Gamal Abdelnasser shattered an already weak economy and most of that generation's house wives had to make do with what they had. They had to learn to sew their own clothes, make their own soap and when possible, produce their own food..Which is why she kept some chickens and rabbits on the roof; so she could breed them, slaughter them and feed them to her children. It was also a nice source of fresh eggs every 21 days. She was almost uneducated, barely able to read and maybe write. She didn't have time to help him with his homework or to even walk him home from school. He had to learn to fend for himself at a very young age.
His father had to support two wives and more children than he could remember. He owned a wafer biscuit factory, but it was a very small factory and he had a very large family. He wasn't a rich man. To support that many people, he was never home. He was always working. He didn't have time for family, and he sure as hell didn't have time to tend to a nine-year old boy and play catch or football with him. He got home very late, and then he either occasionally went to his other wife's house, or he came back home expecting dinner on the table and a bucket-full of salt-water for him to soak his tired feet in. When he went to bed, his wife stood guard on the door to beat up any of the children who dared make loud noises or try to enter his room. If he woke up, he'd wake up in a temper and he'd beat them up or have intense fights with his wife, so she tried to avoid that by instilling in the children a crippling fear of their father, which he encouraged because he believed it made him more intimidating, and that his children would be much better raised if they had a healthy fear of their father. He didn't have any time to urge his children to study or focus on their future because he was too busy trying to keep food on the table. He wasn't a bad father.. he was just the product of a very different time, when all children were raised that way.
Having such a hard childhood helped shape him. He learned to fight for what he wanted. When your father has thirteen children other than you and sometimes has trouble remembering your name, you made sure to stand out and to let him know that you're there, and that you're worth his attention and his respect.
Along came middle school, and it brought no changes to the family, apart from the final addition to their already large family, his youngest brother. His eldest brother was getting through high school nicely, with very high grades, and so his parents gave him even less attention than usual because they were so focused on the newborn baby and their eldest son who looked like he had a bright future ahead of him. Our poor, unappreciated protagonist went to a mediocre middle school, met mediocre/low-class friends, and led an over-all mediocre life at the time. It did, however, teach him that he had to make it square. He was always getting reminded that he had to fight for what he wanted.. that there was no easy way to get anywhere. He put in his best effort at school, but was awarded no recognition from his over-worked parents.
High-school marked the introduction of hard work into his life. His father took him aside when he turned fourteen and he explained that he would no longer give him his allowance. He would now have to work in his father's factory and earn it. It was the early 70's, and Egypt was again saving for the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and the economy was as weak as ever. That said, his dad couldn't afford to pay for any extra workers for his factory and had to push his sons to work for their allowance. It was a very tough job.. Factories at the time mostly relied on manual labour, as opposed to the automatic machinery that we are used to today. That meant that he had to spend hours in front of a raging fire, lifting heavy copper and iron machinery to earn the few shillings he could later use to buy his own food. Other teenagers might have bought junk food (or whatever "junk food" they had in the 70's, anyway), but he always bought vegetables and milk because he wanted to be healthy. His siblings always made fun of him for that.
High-school also introduced him to girls and cigarettes. He went through that phase everyone goes through, with bad influences and worse friends. What made it even worse was that his parents were again too busy to pay attention to his life. As long as he was home before his curfew, they had no reason to be suspicious, and as long as his stashed cigarettes which he sneakily smoked in the bathroom were paid for by his own earned money, they had no way of knowing anything. Which was a blessing and a curse, really, because if they knew, his father would probably beat him bloody and if they didn't, he could have wasted away his life. But thankfully, God had better plans for him and he soon grew out of that phase. But not before it cost him his dream of getting high scores on his exams that would allow him to get into the faculty of engineering, like his eldest brother. Again, he was outshone by his brother and unnoticed by his parents.
Alas, he got accepted in the faculty of commerce, Ain Shams university. He hated his studies. He wasn't remotely interested in economics or accounting. His very successful eldest brother had got a fellowship abroad in Glasgow after he graduated from the faculty of engineering.. He was making his dreams come true. He didn't hate his brother. On the contrary, his brother was his role-model. He was always supporting him, helping him, giving him the fatherly advice his own father wasn't there to give him, and urging him to forge a name for himself. So when his brother finally went to Glasgow, he was finally forced to make a stand. He decided that he would succeed, no matter what. So what if he didn't like his faculty? That didn't mean he wasn't going to succeed in spite of everyone. He was going to be the best at what he did. He was going to be somebody.
Before he knew it, he graduated and was unemployed. Throughout college, he still worked at his father's factory to earn his living and so when he graduated, he found himself dedicated full time to the back-breaking labour of the factory. His father had passed away a few years ago, and the pain of losing him was only outweighed by his iron-clad determination.. he was determined to succeed, and he knew he had to have an edge. To that end, he started taking English language and computer classes, which was entirely unheard-of at the time; Accounting records were mostly on paper due to the fact that computers hadn't been invented yet. However, he went ahead with the two courses anyway, to improve his chances on the job market. Fate had him meet an Italian guy in the English course who worked for an Italian oil company, called ENI. He offered to get him a job, and asked him to go to the company in two days' time for an interview at 12 o'clock.
On the day of the interview, he to get some work done at the factory. It was Ramadan, he was fasting, and he had an interview at 12 o'clock. He toyed with the idea of not fasting that day, seeing as he had to be on his top form in the interview and that would be very hard after spending three long hours in a very hot vault in the factory, working the machines in front of an intense gasoline fire. However, he dismissed the notion and he decided to fast anyway, believing that God would reward him for his effort.
On his way to the interview, he started praying with all his heart. He prayed for this to be his big break. He prayed to get accepted to work for ENI, to get the hell out of that god-damned alley, to be able to support himself. Then his young mind started fantasizing.. he daydreamed about meeting a nice girl there, preferably blonde (yes, that's what he daydreamed about).. that he could maybe start a family with her and transition away from his very hard life. He hoped and he prayed, knowing in his heart that God wouldn't let all his hard work throughout the years go to waste, and believing that his hard work and his wits can get him anywhere in life.
After working as a cashier at a Movenpick for three months, he got a call back from ENI. On his first day at work, he vowed to make a name for himself in this company. He vowed to work hard and even sleep at the office sometimes if he needed to get some work done. He vowed that he wouldn't let his future children suffer through what he did.
Thirty years of hard work later, this man was the first-ever Egyptian finance manager for ENI, with his company Audi parked in the garage and his son and daughter in a much higher social position than he was at their age. Ironically, he was also married to a beautiful blonde woman that he'd met all these years ago when he first started working for the company. His son was also epically handsome, very smart, amazingly talented, muscled, classy, hilariously funny, sharp as a knife, single (wink) and sitting on my chair writing this blog post.
He is my father, Magdy Rizk Bondok.. and I couldn't ask for a more inspiring role model. He has taught me to fight for what I want, to not settle for anything less than perfection.. to carve out a name for myself through hard work and perseverance. Well, he's trying to teach me.. It's a work in progress, really.
I'm proud of you, dad. Enjoy your victory.. You've earned it.
Born as the eleventh child for his father and the fourth child for his mother (not counting stillbirths and siblings who died in their first two years), with three more yet unborn siblings still to come, he wasn't exactly a dream come true for his parents. Toys? He didn't have any toys. It was a very unstable time in Egyptian history, and all the children of that generation didn't generally own toys due to the fragile economic state of the country under the socialist rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In addition, he was born in the aftermath of the 1956 tripartite aggression which destroyed the country's economy even more. With that in mind, it's easy to imagine what it was like for a little boy in such a big family.
His idea of fun was having wrestling matches with his brothers and playing football out in the alley he lived in. His mother was pregnant more often than not, and had to care for three other children simultaneously. She was never able to pay attention to him or submit to his every whim like mothers do nowadays. She had to cook three giant meals every day, tend to his baby brothers and sisters, nurse the sick to health and wash all their clothes manually on an ancient washboard. It was now some time in the late 1960's, after the 1967 war with Israel which cost Egypt the Sinai. With every available resource at his disposal directed towards funding offensives against Israel, President Gamal Abdelnasser shattered an already weak economy and most of that generation's house wives had to make do with what they had. They had to learn to sew their own clothes, make their own soap and when possible, produce their own food..Which is why she kept some chickens and rabbits on the roof; so she could breed them, slaughter them and feed them to her children. It was also a nice source of fresh eggs every 21 days. She was almost uneducated, barely able to read and maybe write. She didn't have time to help him with his homework or to even walk him home from school. He had to learn to fend for himself at a very young age.
His father had to support two wives and more children than he could remember. He owned a wafer biscuit factory, but it was a very small factory and he had a very large family. He wasn't a rich man. To support that many people, he was never home. He was always working. He didn't have time for family, and he sure as hell didn't have time to tend to a nine-year old boy and play catch or football with him. He got home very late, and then he either occasionally went to his other wife's house, or he came back home expecting dinner on the table and a bucket-full of salt-water for him to soak his tired feet in. When he went to bed, his wife stood guard on the door to beat up any of the children who dared make loud noises or try to enter his room. If he woke up, he'd wake up in a temper and he'd beat them up or have intense fights with his wife, so she tried to avoid that by instilling in the children a crippling fear of their father, which he encouraged because he believed it made him more intimidating, and that his children would be much better raised if they had a healthy fear of their father. He didn't have any time to urge his children to study or focus on their future because he was too busy trying to keep food on the table. He wasn't a bad father.. he was just the product of a very different time, when all children were raised that way.
Having such a hard childhood helped shape him. He learned to fight for what he wanted. When your father has thirteen children other than you and sometimes has trouble remembering your name, you made sure to stand out and to let him know that you're there, and that you're worth his attention and his respect.
Along came middle school, and it brought no changes to the family, apart from the final addition to their already large family, his youngest brother. His eldest brother was getting through high school nicely, with very high grades, and so his parents gave him even less attention than usual because they were so focused on the newborn baby and their eldest son who looked like he had a bright future ahead of him. Our poor, unappreciated protagonist went to a mediocre middle school, met mediocre/low-class friends, and led an over-all mediocre life at the time. It did, however, teach him that he had to make it square. He was always getting reminded that he had to fight for what he wanted.. that there was no easy way to get anywhere. He put in his best effort at school, but was awarded no recognition from his over-worked parents.
High-school marked the introduction of hard work into his life. His father took him aside when he turned fourteen and he explained that he would no longer give him his allowance. He would now have to work in his father's factory and earn it. It was the early 70's, and Egypt was again saving for the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and the economy was as weak as ever. That said, his dad couldn't afford to pay for any extra workers for his factory and had to push his sons to work for their allowance. It was a very tough job.. Factories at the time mostly relied on manual labour, as opposed to the automatic machinery that we are used to today. That meant that he had to spend hours in front of a raging fire, lifting heavy copper and iron machinery to earn the few shillings he could later use to buy his own food. Other teenagers might have bought junk food (or whatever "junk food" they had in the 70's, anyway), but he always bought vegetables and milk because he wanted to be healthy. His siblings always made fun of him for that.
High-school also introduced him to girls and cigarettes. He went through that phase everyone goes through, with bad influences and worse friends. What made it even worse was that his parents were again too busy to pay attention to his life. As long as he was home before his curfew, they had no reason to be suspicious, and as long as his stashed cigarettes which he sneakily smoked in the bathroom were paid for by his own earned money, they had no way of knowing anything. Which was a blessing and a curse, really, because if they knew, his father would probably beat him bloody and if they didn't, he could have wasted away his life. But thankfully, God had better plans for him and he soon grew out of that phase. But not before it cost him his dream of getting high scores on his exams that would allow him to get into the faculty of engineering, like his eldest brother. Again, he was outshone by his brother and unnoticed by his parents.
Alas, he got accepted in the faculty of commerce, Ain Shams university. He hated his studies. He wasn't remotely interested in economics or accounting. His very successful eldest brother had got a fellowship abroad in Glasgow after he graduated from the faculty of engineering.. He was making his dreams come true. He didn't hate his brother. On the contrary, his brother was his role-model. He was always supporting him, helping him, giving him the fatherly advice his own father wasn't there to give him, and urging him to forge a name for himself. So when his brother finally went to Glasgow, he was finally forced to make a stand. He decided that he would succeed, no matter what. So what if he didn't like his faculty? That didn't mean he wasn't going to succeed in spite of everyone. He was going to be the best at what he did. He was going to be somebody.
Before he knew it, he graduated and was unemployed. Throughout college, he still worked at his father's factory to earn his living and so when he graduated, he found himself dedicated full time to the back-breaking labour of the factory. His father had passed away a few years ago, and the pain of losing him was only outweighed by his iron-clad determination.. he was determined to succeed, and he knew he had to have an edge. To that end, he started taking English language and computer classes, which was entirely unheard-of at the time; Accounting records were mostly on paper due to the fact that computers hadn't been invented yet. However, he went ahead with the two courses anyway, to improve his chances on the job market. Fate had him meet an Italian guy in the English course who worked for an Italian oil company, called ENI. He offered to get him a job, and asked him to go to the company in two days' time for an interview at 12 o'clock.
On the day of the interview, he to get some work done at the factory. It was Ramadan, he was fasting, and he had an interview at 12 o'clock. He toyed with the idea of not fasting that day, seeing as he had to be on his top form in the interview and that would be very hard after spending three long hours in a very hot vault in the factory, working the machines in front of an intense gasoline fire. However, he dismissed the notion and he decided to fast anyway, believing that God would reward him for his effort.
On his way to the interview, he started praying with all his heart. He prayed for this to be his big break. He prayed to get accepted to work for ENI, to get the hell out of that god-damned alley, to be able to support himself. Then his young mind started fantasizing.. he daydreamed about meeting a nice girl there, preferably blonde (yes, that's what he daydreamed about).. that he could maybe start a family with her and transition away from his very hard life. He hoped and he prayed, knowing in his heart that God wouldn't let all his hard work throughout the years go to waste, and believing that his hard work and his wits can get him anywhere in life.
After working as a cashier at a Movenpick for three months, he got a call back from ENI. On his first day at work, he vowed to make a name for himself in this company. He vowed to work hard and even sleep at the office sometimes if he needed to get some work done. He vowed that he wouldn't let his future children suffer through what he did.
Thirty years of hard work later, this man was the first-ever Egyptian finance manager for ENI, with his company Audi parked in the garage and his son and daughter in a much higher social position than he was at their age. Ironically, he was also married to a beautiful blonde woman that he'd met all these years ago when he first started working for the company. His son was also epically handsome, very smart, amazingly talented, muscled, classy, hilariously funny, sharp as a knife, single (wink) and sitting on my chair writing this blog post.
He is my father, Magdy Rizk Bondok.. and I couldn't ask for a more inspiring role model. He has taught me to fight for what I want, to not settle for anything less than perfection.. to carve out a name for myself through hard work and perseverance. Well, he's trying to teach me.. It's a work in progress, really.
I'm proud of you, dad. Enjoy your victory.. You've earned it.
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