Hayah's Media Resource Centre

       A library is more than just a building full of books; it is a place where you can lose yourself in a magical land and do battle with fearsome beasts. You can travel back in time and feel history take place around you. If the past is not your thing, then why not imagine what the future might be like. Will we be living in space or will we have reverted to wild savages? Burning questions about science, geography and any other subject under the sun can be answered in a library, and if you don’t know where to look then there is always a librarian to ask. School assignments can be written in peace and quiet and embellished with the information that can be found around you.

     This past Thursday, October 14^th 2010 saw the opening of Hayah International Academy’s Media Resource Centre. The three-storey centre is currently home to over 3000 titles covering both fiction and a wide range of non-fiction texts and research resources, as well as subscriptions to numerous online databases. Administrators, teachers, students and parents all celebrated the opening of this first phase of the library, with many parents donating books to the new library( Dar El Kotob publishing house donated 700 books). To help launch the new centre the school was privileged to welcome Zahi Hawass- the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities- and Mohamed El-Sawy- the founder of the Sawy Cultural Wheel, as well as several Egyptian children’s authors and the former President of UNESCO Dr. Fathy Saleh.

    Dr. Hawass kept the audience enthralled with the tale of his quest to unravel the mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amun’s death, while Mr. El-Sawy reminded us of why we should feel pride in our Egyptian culture and language; its intricacies and subtleties. This was re-enforced later when the school choir sang a beautiful song about the hope for the future in both Arabic and English. This was followed by a presentation of Cultnat, an amazing 180˚ interactive journey through 5,000 years of Egyptian history.

     The whole evening was one to make you feel proud. Proud of how far this school has come in such a short space of time-seven years, proud of the students- the choir and the four students who spoke to the gathering were great ambassadors for the school and proud of the part you play in the school, no matter how small.