Success Stories - Man Ahyaha

Amany Ahmed – Teacher at Baharwa School

I started working with Man Ahyaha once I graduated in 2017 and earned my diploma in education while working here. When I was younger I never liked teaching, but I believe that joining Man Ahyaha was just meant to be. The first year was tough for me because my idea of teaching was that it was all about rote learning and punishment. But, when I joined the professional development courses here and became aware of active learning, I started to like teaching and realized that it didn’t suit the image I had in my head. I continued to attend training courses, learn, and practice what I learned. I also started to set goals and plan them out. I’m now very grateful that I have become a successful facilitator and have reached the first step of achieving my dream and became a facilitator’s trainer.

I thank God and Man Ahyaha that they’ve given me all these opportunities and that they are concerned about us as teachers as much as they are about the children and their physical and mental health, education and behaviour. I appreciate that Man Ahyaha is doing its utmost to raise well-rounded children who are able to think freely for themselves and to the benefit of their community.

Khadiga Refaie – Library Facilitator at Baharwa School

I joined Man Ahyaha relying only on my skills and capabilities thinking that I could achieve so much. However, I found out that I was unable to keep the children’s attention and I couldn’t figure out why. After a few professional training sessions, I learned that there are multiple intelligences and that I need to cater to each type of intelligence so that each child can benefit from their educational experience. I also learned that education is child-centered and that my role as a teacher is limited to facilitation and guidance. I realized that one of the most effective teaching tools is to create activities that engage the mind, the heart , and the hands. This is because the mind understands, the hand practices and never forgets and consequently, the heart starts to feel love and is able to affect the world around it. The process of education becomes embedded in a safe environment that makes a child feel safe, loved and able to express themselves with passion.

Working with Man Ahyaha gave me a chance to attend a class management workshop which helped me work with children and provide them with a safe environment and tasks that make them feel important, confident and able to participate without fear.

Shrouk Thabet – Library Facilitator at Behbeit School

I changed my perspective on life. I always used to think of the challenges that I will have to face. This used to make me freeze and not make any progress. But now I accept that there will be challenges, many of them, but that I’ll need to find out ways to work around them to achieve my goals. I learned how influential I could be and that my role is big and important. Children see me as a role model and copy what I do. I started viewing life differently. I take a deep breath, plan then execute. I am always conscious of anything I say to the children because it does not only affect them – it affects the whole community.

I used to teach even before graduating. I loved working with the students but never thought I added anything new to them. I always felt that I needed to learn some techniques to reach my lesson goals. Luckily, things started to change when I joined Man Ahyaha. Over the course of almost 3 years, I developed into a teacher who knows herself better and knows how to be in control of her feelings and decisions. I also learned how to separate between my work and personal problems thanks to the Emotional Growth module I attended with Man Ahyaha. I also became aware of my rights and duties and the nature of my work and my community school after taking the Management module. That is not all as I learned a lot about education from many other training modules as well.

Now, I am more than a teacher at Man Ahyaha. When our administration noticed that I am developing and succeeding they offered me the chance to grow further and now I am a trainer for the first time in my educational career and I really hope to flourish.