"Bandawi" was written by Syrian oil chemist and
internationally renowned businessman Mohed Altrad and has autobiographical
details. I read it with pleasure and I found it very moving. It describes the
struggle of a little Bedouin from the Syrian desert, who lost his mother early
and never accepted the love of his grandmother, father and other relatives, to
come out victorious in life. From his early childhood he realized that the only
way to succeed was school. Despite the lack of understanding and the
disagreements of his relative, who were targeting him as a shepherd, the young
Bedouin went to the local elementary school and later to a high school in Raka,
where he took the final exams and thus obtained a scholarship to study Oil
Chemistry in France… So school and hard work helped the little Bedouin rise
socially. His militancy and willingness to win were wonderful and worthy of an
example of admiration and imitation.
But the whole novel is not just about describing the school as a machine
of knowledge and, consequently, of social growth. The story also includes a
more romantic and sad part, that of Mayouf's acquaintance with Fadia, a
neighbor of his when he was a student at Raka’s High School. Mayouf tried to be
her love, and he succeeded. From her part, the kind-hearted Fadia was the only
person to accept and love him unconditionally, as a poor Bedouin. She supported
him mentally during his high school years and vowed that she would wait for him
to return after his studies in France.
But after finishing his studies at Montpellier and going to work in Dubai,
Mayouf felt completely changed, wishing to break off any relationship with his
sad past and unfortunately with dubious feelings for Fadia, who had never
forgotten him. So he preferred to leave her alone, sending her one last letter,
in which he wished he was happy there and then if she ever loved him because
she deserved it ... The book ends with Fadia being left alone in her life and
passing her nights looking at a star in the sky, mentally identifying it with
the child Mayouf once promised her they would have together.
The story does not describe what Bedouin Mayouf finally did. But it is
well known that the author himself is now a wealthy businessman, whom I had the
pleasure of meeting and having conversations with, last year in Athens.
And here is me with the very polite writer and hero of his book, the little
"Badawi", who is now a Petroleum Chemist and Businessman in the
Arabic Peninsula. I was very happy to meet him last
year.
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